


Paperclip Charms

by TheGirlWhoRemembers



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Bozer and Mac are Best Friends, F/M, Friendship, Jack and Mac Bromance, Mac is a terrible patient, Mac's MIT Days, One Shot Collection, Riley ships Jack/Thornton, Slow Build, Team as Family, paperclips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 03:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8828167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGirlWhoRemembers/pseuds/TheGirlWhoRemembers
Summary: One-shot series. Mac likes to keep his hands busy, and he's always got a paperclip or two handy. Latest update: Valentine's Day Special!5 Valentine’s Days over the years with Mac and Beth, featuring a solar car, a stubbornly-silent bowl of stew, interrupting bad guys, a serious case of déjà vu, and a self-rocking cradle.





	1. Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is a series of interconnected one-shots. The entire series (completed, about 20,000 words) was written post-Chisel and pre-Pliers (in less than a week!), so is canon up to Chisel and arguably also up to Pliers (though it does not reference any of the events/revelations of the latter). 
> 
> I'll post a chapter a day until I catch up to where it's at on Fanfiction.net, after which I'll keep the same update schedule on both sites.

**MAY 2017**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

=========

Mac stared at the key in his hand. The little metal key felt much heavier than he knew it really was.

_The woman I loved was a lie, but like every good lie, there was a grain of truth._

_Nikki didn’t lie about the key._

_I’m still not so sure about the not wanting me dead bit._

He sighed and placed the key into the safe in front of him, and looked around the secure room in the Phoenix Foundation’s headquarters. He felt much lighter, relieved of a burden far heavier than the key he’d worn around his neck for months.

_Closure._

‘You okay, Mac?’

Jack walked into the room, and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

‘We got her.’

_But we didn’t get her bosses. They’re still out there, and they’re still a threat._

The older man heard the note of discontent in his partner’s voice.

‘We’ll get them, just like we got her and all the other scumbags we’ve caught.’

_Well, it’s not perfect, but it’ll have to be enough. Rome wasn’t built in a day._

Jack clapped his shoulder again.

‘Now, come on. We’re going back to your place for some well-deserved drinks. Even Patty’s stopping by on her way home, so I hope you and Bozer have been keeping the place clean!’

Mac rolled his eyes.

‘We’re a pair of bachelors, one of whom travels frequently for work. Our place isn’t going to look like an IKEA catalogue.’

Jack chuckled and steered the younger man out of the room.

‘I won’t ever understand your fascination with that place…and Bozer might object to being called a bachelor; he does have a sort-of girlfriend.’

=========

‘You coming, brother?’

Bozer jerked his head in the direction of the fire pit, six-pack of beer in hand. 

Mac looked up at Riley, Jack and Bozer, who were all carrying snacks and drinks. Thornton had already left, but the others had decided to hang around and, presumably, drink the night away.

He nodded.

‘I’ll be out in a minute.’

His friends looked over him concernedly, but left him to his thoughts. 

=========

‘It’s been a lot longer than a minute, Mac. If you don’t come out soon, Bozer and Jack’ll finish all the beer.’

Riley had slipped into the house again, and stood by him beside the sink.

It was probably concerning that she could sneak up on him like that, but he was in a safe place, and lost in his thoughts, and she had been training with Thornton…

Mac sighed. 

She wasn’t going to leave him alone.

He suspected that none of his friends were going to leave him alone until they were sure he was really okay. The others had probably sent her in, actually.

_When ripping off a band-aid, it is actually less painful to pull it off quickly._

_Yeah, physical wounds aren’t the same as emotional wounds, but same principle._

‘You know, I wasn’t always like this.’

‘You mean you couldn’t always solve any problem with a Swiss Army knife, some gum and a couple of paperclips?’

Mac smiled wanly.

‘That’s never really been an issue.’ His face turned serious again. ‘No, I guess I wasn’t always…me. I wasn’t always the Mac you know.’

Riley cocked an eyebrow at him. 

‘So there was some point in time when you didn’t dress like a grandpa?’

Mac just shot her a look. 

Riley held her hands up in supplication.

‘Okay, okay, being serious now.’

‘Thank you.’ 

Mac sat down on the kitchen benchtop. A moment later, Riley sat down next to him. 

‘I didn’t used to have much confidence or leadership skills.’ Riley cocked her eyebrow in surprise. Mac was definitely their team’s leader, both officially and unofficially. As for the confidence, had he seen his own crazy, on-the-fly, life-saving inventions?

‘Well, I always did have confidence in what I made, but with everything else? Hell no.’

‘What happened?’

Mac shrugged.

‘MIT helped. The Army. DXS training. Growing up a bit.’

‘And Nikki?’

Mac tightened his grip on the benchtop.

‘Yeah.’

They were silent for a moment.

‘I was absolutely terrible with women.’

Riley snorted.

‘Really? Because I’ve read some of those mission logs, and heard the stories from Jack, and I was there in Germany, and despite what Bozer says, you’ve got game, Mac.’

‘Was, Riley, was. Before her.’ He pulled a paperclip out of his pocket and started fiddling. ‘Back in high school, I was pretty far down the food chain. Bozer and Penny and their AV Club and theatre friends were the pretty much the only people who’d hang out with me. I get it. Skipping two grades, doing college classes, getting excited by weird things and winning every science fair doesn’t scream Mr Popularity. MIT was better, but I was a skinny sixteen year old doing college in only two years, studying engineering to boot.’

‘Pretty terrible gender ratios, so I hear.’

Mac nodded.

‘Yeah, so you can see why. I was shy and a little awkward and not always the best with people…’

‘Oh, I can totally see that.’ She paused for a second. ‘But then you grew up a little, faced a lot of real danger, found what you were really wonderful at, and this beautiful, intelligent woman who seemed to like you for exactly who you are started paying attention to you, and…’

‘Yeah, something like that.’ 

Riley nodded.

‘You know, I wondered why you never tried flirting with me.’

Mac turned to look at her.

_‘Really?’_

She held up her hands.

‘I know you’re not Jack, and you don’t flirt with every woman you meet, but hear me out, Mac. We’re close in age, I know about your job, I’m also your team’s analyst, and as my grandma would say, I grew up nicely.’

‘You seriously think my type is _analyst_?’

Riley shrugged.

‘Well, I know it doesn’t hurt.’

Mac snorted.

‘Firstly, Bozer would skin me alive, best friend or not. Secondly…I just didn’t want to. And not just because of Nikki…I’m not ever going to want to.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Err…no offence.’

Riley fist-bumped him.

‘None taken, right back at you, Mac. And for what it’s worth, even though she turned out to be a baddie, doesn’t mean she can’t have done you some good.’ She looked down. ‘Prison was terrible…but it kinda helped make me who I am. Maybe Nikki was the same for you.’ She looked up again. ‘And I reckon you would have turned out the way you are, even without her.’

‘You reckon?’

‘Yeah. Might have taken longer, and you might have needed some lessons from Jack and Bozer, but you would have gotten there. You’re a bit of a chick magnet on missions, you know.’

He groaned.

‘That was _one_ time. _One time._ And I’m pretty sure it was a case of Damsel Syndrome anyway.’

Riley raised an eyebrow.

‘That’s actually a thing?’

‘Yeah.’ Mac paused for a moment, face taking on an expression of disbelief. ‘Wait, did you say Bozer? Take lessons from _Bozer_ on how to woo women?’

Riley looked away.

‘He’s growing on me.’

‘You know, I came home one day to him having covered the floor with rose petals and candles and preparing duck l’orange because I had a date? A second date!’

‘I can’t quite believe it myself, Mac, but he’s growing on me.’

He shook his head, glancing down at the paperclip heart in his hands.

‘In all seriousness, Bozer’s a great guy. You couldn’t do better.’

Her face softened.

‘I know.’ She jogged him with her elbow. ‘Now we just have to get Thornton and Jack together, and find you a girl, and the family will be all set up for happily ever after.’

‘Jack and Thornton? Really? And my game is perfectly fine, you said so yourself!’

The hacker shrugged.

‘A little help from friends never hurt anyone.’

Mac shook his head.

Riley was not dissuaded.

‘A special girl from high school, perhaps?’

He raised an eyebrow.

‘Really? You’ve met Penny. There’s definitely nothing there.’

She hopped off the countertop. 

‘Cold? Okay, how about MIT? Got a college sweetheart, Mac? A lab partner you wanted to be more than lab partners with? Girl who worked at your favourite coffee shop?’ She waggled her eyebrows. ‘A favourite TA, even? Ooh…it was MIT, how about a fellow science-fair-winning, grade-skipping genius?’

He hesitated a moment, and then responded a little too loudly.

‘No!’

Riley grinned like the proverbial cat with the cream.

‘Ooh…I think I’m getting warmer! You, Angus MacGyver, had a college crush!’

Bozer poked his head in the door. 

‘Sweetpea, have you and Mac finished your D&M? Can we come in now? I wanna grab some ingredients for my top-secret, so-delicious-they’re-dangerous s’mores!’ 

Riley strode over to Mac’s roommate.

‘I’ll go out for coffee with you…if you tell me all about Mac’s college crush.’

Bozer grinned.

‘My lady, you’ve got yourself a deal.’

‘Excellent!’

And she stole his beer, took a swig, and walked back outside to the fire pit.

Mac punched Bozer’s shoulder lightly.

‘Traitor.’

‘Hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do!’

The two young men gathered up the s’mores supplies and walked outside.

Jack smirked at Mac in greeting.

‘What’s this I hear about your MIT days? A girl? You’ve been holding out on me, man!’

Mac snagged a beer and knocked it back, shaking his head.

_Family._

_You can’t live with them, you can’t live without them._

_And I wouldn’t have it any other way._


	2. Hourglass

**JUNE 2017**

**ABANDONED CAR FACTORY**

**DETROIT**

\- 

Jack and Mac ran into the abandoned factory. 

Both men skidded to a halt as they saw the bomb steadily ticking down in front of them. 

‘Well, you were right, no-one in here, Riley.’ 

‘But this might be worse.’ 

****1:54** **

****1:53** **

****1:52** **

‘Mac, can you disarm it?’ 

The younger man was already rifling through papers, pocketing a USB stick, and staring at a map on the wall. 

‘And work out where they’re planning to strike? No, there’s not enough time!’ 

Jack joined him in the frantic search. They had to find out where in Detroit was being targeted by the terror cell, or the consequences would be too dire to consider. 

‘Damn it, it’s all in code!’ 

****1:19** **

****1:18** **

****1:17** **

Both men exchanged a glance, and seized as much of the paper as they could. Mac grabbed the map off the wall. 

He glanced at the bomb in the middle of the factory again. 

_Relatively large blast radius…we’ll never get clear._

_Not unless I…_

Mac tossed his stack of papers, the USB and the map to Jack. 

‘Go, get those to Riley!’ 

‘Mac…’ 

‘If you don’t, hundreds of people are going to die! I’ll be right behind you!’ 

Jack swore under his breath, but started running. 

Mac, brain already in overdrive, began to do what he did best. 

_I can’t stop it from going off…but I can direct and contain the blast._

_If this works like I think it will…_

\- 

Riley frowned as Jack ran up to the van, which was parked behind a large stack of tires for cover. 

‘Mac?’ 

Jack shook his head. 

‘He swore he was right behind me…’ 

‘BOOM!’ 

The factory went up in a blast. The stack of tires went flying. The van shook, and they both felt the heat of the explosion. 

‘Mac!’ 

‘No!’ 

The sat-phone rang. Jack answered. 

‘Patty, this isn’t a good time…’ 

‘I’m quite aware, Jack. MacGyver?’ 

‘Uh…' 

Riley shook Jack’s shoulder. 

‘Jack, you’ve got to see this…’ 

Singed and bloodied, against all odds, their fellow agent was walking towards them. 

‘You called?’ 

Jack shook his head. 

‘He’s here, Patty. Don’t know how, but he’s here.’ 

\- 

‘There’s four.’ 

The other two agents glanced at Riley. 

‘Four bombs?’ 

‘You sure?’ 

She nodded. 

‘Yeah.’ 

'Where?’ 

She pointed out four locations on the map, all at least five miles apart. 

‘And just when I thought today couldn’t get any worse…I’m getting too old for this.’ 

Mac glanced at Riley’s laptop, where she’d just finished decoding the contents of the USB. 

‘And we’ve only got 25 minutes. Day’s just gotten worse, old man.’ 

\- 

****18:32** **

****18:31** **

****18:30** **

They pulled up to the first location. Local police were already clearing civilians, but with such a large area to evacuate… 

_People are going to die if we can’t stop the blast._

_I’m not letting that happen._

‘Bomb squads have got the other three. This one’s ours.’ 

Pulling out his trusty Swiss Army knife, Mac took off at a run, Jack and Riley behind him. 

\- 

****12:23** **

****12:22** **

****12:21** **

‘Site 1 is clear.’ 

‘Site 2 is clear.’ 

‘Site 3 here, we’re having some difficulty…’ 

Mac, Riley and Jack glanced at one another, then took off for their vehicle at a run. 

‘This is Site 4, we’re clear here. Site 3, we’re coming to assist.’ 

‘You’re too far away, there’s no time!’ 

\- 

****0:36** **

****0:35** **

****0:34** **

They pulled up at the edge of the perimeter that the police had established. Civilians, confused and scared, were still being evacuated from within the blast zone by police. 

Mac, Swiss Army knife in hand, jumped out of his seat. 

Jack grabbed his arm, but the younger man pulled it from his grip. 

‘There’s not enough time, Mac…’ 

‘I’ve got to try!’ 

He took off at a run. 

Jack and Riley jumped out after him. 

‘Mac!’ 

\- 

Angus MacGyver could do a lot of improbable things. A lot of _highly_ improbable things. 

But even he couldn’t break the laws of physics. 

Even he couldn’t stop time. 

****0:02** **

****0:01** **

****0:00** **

‘BOOM!’ 

‘Mac!’ 

\- 

****SECURE FBI MEDICAL FACILITY** **

****SOMEWHERE IN MICHIGAN** **

\- 

‘How is he?’ 

Thornton stood by the doorway of Mac’s hospital room and addressed Jack, who was sitting by his sedated partner’s bedside. 

‘All things considering? Not bad. No brain injuries or internal injuries. But his ribs are bruised, there were at least half a dozen shrapnel wounds that needed stitching and he’s pretty much blue and purple all over.’ 

Thornton nodded. 

‘From the first bomb or the second?’ 

Jack shrugged. 

‘It’s too hard for the doctors to tell. He was closer to the first blast, so…’ Jack slammed his fist into his other hand. ‘Damn it, he insisted he was fine, patched himself up with the med kit, wouldn’t let me take a look.’ 

Thornton took a seat on the other side of Mac’s bed. 

‘Sounds like Mac.’ 

Jack sighed. 

‘He’s my partner, Patty. My responsibility. It’s my job to keep him safe.’ 

She shook her head. 

‘It’s your job to watch his back, just like it’s his to watch yours.’ 

They both glanced over at the unconscious agent. Lying like this, he looked barely out of his teens, if at all. 

‘He’s just a kid, Patty. Him and Riley…’ 

‘They’re adults in every sense of the word, Jack. You’ve always seen them as adults in the field, you’ve got to out of the field too.’ 

The other agent nodded. 

‘I know.’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘When did adults get so young?’ 

Thornton smiled wryly. 

‘When we got old, Jack.’ 

On the bed, Mac stirred. Jack moved closer to his partner. 

‘Didn’t…didn’t get the last one…did we?’ 

The younger man took one look at Jack’s stony face and got his answer. 

He struggled weakly to get up. 

‘How…many?’ 

Thornton stood and called for a doctor. 

‘Mac…’ 

The blonde continued to struggle, even as the doctor increased his dose of sedatives. 

‘How…many?’ 

His eyelids drooped again, and the fight left his body. 

Thornton and Jack exchanged a look as he slipped under again. 

\- 

‘You’ve gotta stop watching that, brother.’ 

Jack pulled the remote from Mac’s hands, and turned off the TV. He ignored the dirty look his partner shot him. 

‘You saved a lot of lives, Mac.’ 

‘Not enough, Jack. Not all of them.’ 

‘You can’t save everyone.’ 

Mac slammed his fist down on his bed. 

People died, Jack! People with families! Children! People’s brothers or sisters or husbands or wives or kids!’ 

‘And it could have been four times’ worse.’ He held up a hand to stop Mac’s response. ‘It’s not on you, brother. You didn’t plant the bombs. You saved a lot of lives. _That’s_ what’s on you.’ 

Mac sighed. 

‘I know it’s not on me. But that doesn’t change the fact that innocent people are dead.’ 

Jack nodded, and reached out to clap a hand on his shoulder. 

‘And that doesn’t change the fact that you saved a lot of lives. Would it have been better if no-one had died? Hell yeah. But sometimes that’s not always possible. You tried. Did as much as you could. You’re not Superman, Mac.' 

The younger man nodded slowly, eyes drifting closed again. 

‘Jack?’ 

‘Yes, brother?’ 

‘You’re wrong, you know. It wasn’t _me_ who saved those people. You, me, Riley, Thornton, the bomb squad, everyone…it was a team effort.’ 

Jack reached out and patted his arm. 

‘Don’t ever change, Mac.’ 

\- 

‘It doesn’t get any easier. Losing people, even if you don’t know them.’ 

Mac glanced over at his boss, who was sitting by his bedside. 

‘I figured.’ 

She nodded. 

‘But you keep going, because you have to. Because you’re doing good and saving lives.’ 

Mac nodded slowly. 

‘I know.’ 

Thornton reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bag. 

‘If you use this to attempt to escape your bed or this room in any way, shape or form, there will be consequences.’ 

Mac pulled out one of the paperclips from the bag. 

‘Understood, boss.’ 

She gave him a small smile and left. 

\- 

A few minutes later, a wire hourglass sat on Mac’s bedside table. 

_I can’t stop time._

_I can’t slow time._

_But what I can do, is use the time that I have._

_Use it well. Use every last nanosecond._

_Use it to help people._

_And that’s just going to have to be enough._


	3. Stethoscope

**JULY 2017**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

-

‘Jack, my office, please. It’ll just be a few minutes.’

The team had just returned from a mission, thankfully unharmed, but exhausted. Jack motioned for Mac and Riley to head off without him; he’d meet them at Mac’s later, and followed Thornton into her office.

‘I’ve found the Foundation a doctor.’

Jack looked confused.

‘We needed one?’

She sighed.

‘The alphabet agencies and military are getting sick of us using their medical personnel. I don’t blame them. We do seem to require a lot of medical care.’

Jack nodded.

‘They coming on missions with us? ‘Cause Riley’s coming along real well, you’ve been doing a good job with her, but she’s not quite a trained agent, and I don’t know if we can handle someone else without crack combat skills…’

‘No missions. On-site here or ex-fil as necessary. On call for video or verbal consults.’

She handed him a file.

There was a photo of a young woman, brown hair and eyes, doctor’s coat. Pretty, even attractive if she wasn’t fifteen years too young for his tastes. 

Then he read the name.

Dr Beth Taylor, M.D. Twenty-five. 

Otherwise known to him, Riley and Bozer (and Thornton, she _was_ the best spy in the business), as Mac’s chemistry lab partner from MIT and college crush.

‘Patty…’ There was a note of warning in his tone. 

‘Best fit for the job, Jack.’

Pre-med at MIT, medical school at Northwestern, Emergency Medicine residency in Detroit. Her hospital had been on the edge of the last blast zone from their mission in Detroit a month before. She’d helped triage afterwards for sixteen hours. 

Jack put down the file and crossed his arms.

‘Lots of people with those qualifications.’

Thornton interlaced her fingers, resting her hands on her desk.

‘Over forty people were recommended by my contacts. Of those, twenty-eight passed all the background and psych profile checks.’ Jack raised an eyebrow. For over forty recommended by Thornton’s contacts, twenty-eight passing wasn’t all that many. ‘Yes, we’re being even more thorough now, for obvious reasons. Of those, only five were under forty years of age, had no partner, children or any other dependents and weren’t well-known among medical professionals or active in the research community. Of those five, only one had the patience and stubbornness needed to deal with our tricky patients, as well as a strong moral compass and a decent dose of idealism.’

‘They all passed the psych profile, Patty.’

She pursed her lips.

‘Nikki passed psych evals too. I decided to add another test.’

‘Strong moral compass, decent dose of idealism? Sounds like someone we know.’

‘It does.’

Jack glanced out the window.

‘Hard to find someone with Mac’s moral compass.’

‘Hard to find someone with yours, too, Jack.’

He glanced at the file again.

‘So it wasn’t her…connection…to Mac that led you to pick her?’

Thornton’s face, like any good spy’s, didn’t give anything away.

‘Didn’t hurt.’

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. 

‘Playing yenta? How very unprofessional of you.’

Thornton caught him with her deadly stare.

‘Think of it as insurance. You know as well as I do that if Nikki hadn’t wanted him alive, MacGyver would most likely be dead now. It wouldn’t do to lose one of my best agents.’

Jack returned her gaze, nodded, and then slowly smiled.

‘And maybe having a pretty, clever old flame for a doctor might induce Mac to not run the other way when he hears the word infirmary.’

‘Off the record, it can’t hurt.’

-

‘Riley, Jack, this is Dr Taylor, Dr Taylor, this is Riley Davis and Jack Dalton. Riley is our team’s field analyst, Jack is…’

‘The muscle of the operation!’

Smiling, Beth shook Riley’s hand, and then Jack’s. 

‘Please, call me Beth.’

Riley smiled at the new doctor, before turning to Jack, eyebrow cocked. 

He whispered in her ear.

‘Yeah, it’s her. I’ll explain later.’

At that moment, Bozer burst into the briefing room and did a double-take. 

‘Bro, you’re gonna wanna see this!’

‘I’m coming, Bozer, did you really have to run half the way here? We’re not late.’

He strode into the room a moment later.

And stood there dumbfounded.

To be fair, Beth wasn’t any better.

Mac looked at all his teammates in turn, eyes lingering on Thornton the longest, but it was Beth who recovered her powers of speech first.

She waved awkwardly at Bozer.

‘Hi, Bozer.’ She turned to Mac. ‘Angus MacGyver. I never expected…well, you did join the Army…’

Mac turned on his heel and walked out.

-

Jack sat down next to Mac in in the empty breakroom.

The younger man was playing with the bowl of paperclips.

‘Thornton didn’t do it because of you.’ He smirked slightly. ‘Well, actually, she kind of did, because you’re the one who always needs medical attention-‘

‘-Like you’re any better.’

Well, at least he’d gotten a reaction and a slight smile out of the blonde, even if it was at his expense.

‘She really didn’t pick Beth because you had a thing for her in college, Mac.’

‘Really? Because despite the fact that my love life is _none_ of your business, _none_ of you seem to be able to stay _out_ of it!’

‘Okay, maybe me, Bozer and Riley have pushed a little too far. But Thornton, brother? She’s _all_ professionalism. And it was _all_ her work. Getting a team doctor, picking Beth. All her.’ Jack paused. ‘There were a lot of things we needed in a team doctor. Lots of criteria. She was the best fit for the job, not taking into account your history. I could ask Thornton to let you see the files…’

Mac picked up a handful of paperclips and let them fall back into the bowl, watching them in contemplation.

‘No, I believe you.’ He paused. ‘I’m sorry. I overreacted. I should have trusted you guys.’

Jack clapped him on the shoulder.

‘It’s okay, brother. It’s not as if we were completely free from ulterior motives…figured a pretty doctor might make you more inclined to seek medical care when necessary.’

Mac shook his head and smiled.

‘Well, it sure beats being dragged there by your ugly mug.’

Jack looked affronted.

‘Hey! I’ll have you know, this mug is very popular with the ladies!’

His partner just shook his head.

‘Keep thinking that, old man, keep thinking that.’

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment.

‘It was more than a thing, actually. I was half in love with her by the time we graduated.’ Mac paused. ‘Promised to write…well, email each other when I enlisted…’ He took a deep breath. ‘But then I stopped. After Pena.’

Jack nodded in sympathy.

‘It’s a normal reaction, Mac.’

‘Wasn’t in a good place, and…didn’t want her to see the horrors of war, I guess.’

Jack patted his shoulder.

‘Always the noble gentleman.’

‘She kept sending emails, for a while. I never replied. She stopped eventually. We lost touch.’

‘And next thing you know, she’s your co-worker?’

Mac ran a hand through his hair.

‘Don’t you dare tell anyone else this, Jack…but I did look her up. When Nikki was on the loose…I got worried she’d go after anyone who was ever important to me. I kept an eye on everyone I thought could be a target- my dad, Penny, Pena’s wife and daughter, Beth…’

‘Did Nikki know about her?’

Mac shrugged.

‘Figured she might. There’s a digital trail, photos. Nikki was at MIT the same time Beth and I were, though we never knew each other. Might have mentioned her once or twice over the years.’ At the look on Jack’s face, he continued. ‘Hey, even I know not to mention an old crush to your current girlfriend.’

They sat quietly for a moment, before Jack spoke up.

‘So you’re telling me that you went all radio silence on an ex-lab partner on whom you had a very much requited crush-‘

‘-Don’t know about that.’ It sounded more like a token protest than a truly-held belief. 

‘Oh, seeing that little scene back there? Bozer’s stories? What you just told me? It was _definitely_ requited, brother. And then next thing you know it, she’s your doctor. With access to lots of pointy things and the ability to use them on you.’

Mac winced.

‘Yeah, pretty much.’

Jack patted him on the shoulder.

‘She’s quite little, I reckon you can take her, brother.’

Mac shook his head.

_Shakespeare wrote: ‘And though she be but little, she is fierce.’_

_And it might be fiction, but it is definitely true._

_At least in this case._

-

Mac slipped into the newly-constructed doctor’s office in the infirmary. 

‘Beth? I’m sorry…I just assumed that they-’

‘-hired me because we have a history and you trusted me?’

_Well, her way of putting it is probably better. It’s a very grown-up way of saying it._

_The past was a long time ago, after all._

_We’re adults now._

He sat down opposite her at her desk.

‘I still do trust you.’

She smiled at him. 

‘Thornton assured me that it wasn’t because of our history. I believe her. There aren’t many emergency doctors who would give it all up, move halfway across the country and take up a top-secret job pretending to patch up think tank staff. You know, prescribe blood pressure and diabetes meds, prevent caffeine overdoses….’

He chuckled. 

‘Yeah, I know.’

Beth looked down for a moment, then back up at him.

‘I can see why it wouldn’t hurt, though. You trusting me. She told me what your last analyst did. Betrayal like that’s got to hurt.’

Mac shook his head, and pulled out the paperclip he’d taken from the breakroom. 

‘Oh, she didn’t tell you the worse part. She’s my ex-girlfriend.’

‘Oh, _ouch_. I’m sorry, Mac.’ She paused for a moment. ‘You know, I once dated a guy who insisted that the periodic table was wrong, because lithium can’t be lighter than oxygen.’ He winced in sympathy. ‘Yeah, not the same scale of betrayal, but I kind of know the feeling.’

He gave a snort of laughter.

‘Pretty black humour, but thanks.’

‘You don’t become an emergency doctor without developing a somewhat dark and inappropriate sense of humour.’

‘Don’t become a secret agent without one either.’

They sat in not-uncomfortable silence for a little while.

Then they both spoke at once.

‘You know, of all the things I thought you’d end up being, I never quite considered the love child of James Bond and Q.’

‘You’re not still mad at me for stopping writing, are you?’

Another silence.

She broke it.

‘I was a little mad, at first. You _did_ promise you’d write, and that we’d keep in touch, and I always thought that Angus MacGyver didn’t break his promises. But I knew what you were doing over there, knew you’d seen some terrible things…and I figured it must have been something bad happening, something _really_ bad, that stopped you from writing.’

He swallowed.

‘Yeah, it was my CO, the guy who trained me, Pena, being killed.’

‘I’m sorry, Mac.’

‘It was a long time ago.’

‘Doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt.’ She paused. ‘And I still believe that you don’t break your promises. Just like I know you’ve got the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, a stubborn streak a mile wide, an iron-clad set of morals and a ludicrous sense of responsibility to boot. And that you’re going to be a _terrible_ patient and that you’ve never met a problem you couldn’t solve with your Swiss Army knife and a stick of gum.’

‘And a couple of paperclips.’

She laughed.

‘Can’t forget the paperclips.’

He handed her a little wire stethoscope.

‘Thanks, Beth.’

She smiled and placed it on her desk, right next to the real thing. 

‘Just telling it like it is.’

He hesitated for a moment.

‘Would you like to come to mine and Bozer’s place? I’ve rigged up a hot tub using a kiddie pool and a vacuum cleaner, and it’s a pretty cool piece of engineering if I say so myself.’

Beth grinned.

‘Oh, that, I’ve got to see!’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Did you electrocute yourself making it?’

‘Err…not badly?’

‘Oh, I totally see why you guys needed me.’

-

_There are advantages and disadvantages to having your co-workers be your friends and family._

_One of the disadvantages is what happened today._

_A misunderstanding._

_But I trust them, and I know them._

_Sure, they might tease me half to death, but they’re also professionals who will do the right thing, the best thing, the necessary thing._

_I do trust them to do that, just like they trust me to._

_That doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy them inevitably poking their noses into my business from now on, though._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is almost certainly an unpopular opinion, but this is actually my favourite chapter to date (I'm probably biased, since it is my story, but I was really proud of the Thornton/Jack and Jack/Mac interactions- stirring the pot by adding Beth brings out facets of these relationships, methinks.)


	4. Dreamcatcher

**AUGUST 2017**

* * *

 

_The thing about this team is that we can never keep our noses out of each other’s business._

_That doesn’t just go for my personal life, but also everybody else’s._

* * *

**RILEY’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

‘Baby! Hey, Riley! Wake up!’

The young woman jerked awake suddenly, both hot and cold, clammy, tangled in sheets. She looked up to find Bozer’s concerned face.

‘You were kicking and screaming…’

She sighed and sat up.

‘Nightmare. Again.’

Her (What was he, boyfriend? Friend-with-benefits? Someone she was dating? At that moment, it didn’t matter)…her Bozer rubbed her back gently.

‘I’m sorry, Riley. Anything I can do?’

She slowly lay down again, trying to calm her breathing.

‘Just…hold me?’

He smiled wanly at her, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes.

‘Anything my lady wants.’

* * *

**GYM**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

Riley fell back onto the mat with a thud, Thornton looming over her, gloved hands in a fighting stance.

‘You’re sloppy today.’

Riley looked down, frustrated. She’d been making good progress, though she was still no Jack, but you wouldn’t know watching her today.

‘Yeah. Couldn’t sleep last night. Again.’

After a moment’s pause, Thornton sat down beside her on the mat.

‘Do I need to get Doc to prescribe you something to help you sleep?’

Riley shook her head firmly.

‘Nah, I don’t want drugs. Drugged sleep’s just not the same.’

Thornton nodded in understanding.

The two women sat in silence for a moment.

Riley eventually broke it.

‘Thanks. For teaching me how to fight.’ She paused. ‘And for finding me that shrink.’

‘Is he helping?’

The hacker nodded.

‘Yeah.’

‘Good.’

The senior agent got up, pulled off her gloves, and held a hand out to Riley, helping her up.

‘I’ll give you a day off from training. Just this once.’

Riley smiled.

‘Thanks, boss.’

* * *

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

Jack let himself in, four cups of coffee and a bag with four bagels in hand.

Riley was already sitting on the couch, watching the sunrise.

‘Boys still asleep?’

The young woman nodded.

‘Yeah.’

Jack took a seat beside her and handed her a cup of coffee, then a bagel. She accepted and sipped the coffee, giving him a grateful smile.

‘You seeing someone for it?’

PTSD sure wasn’t easy. He knew that from first-hand experience, and from trying to help Mac.

The hacker nodded.

‘Yeah, Thornton found someone. With clearance and all, so I can tell him anything.’

Jack smiled.

‘Patty’s good that way.’

Riley hid her growing smile behind her bagel.

‘Yeah, yeah she is.’

They sat there in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your mom.’

Riley snorted.

‘Takes two to tango. She never complained.’ Her face softened. ‘Besides, it worked out for the best, right?’

She would probably still be in prison if not for Jack telling the team about her.

He touched his coffee cup to hers, like they did with their beer bottles.

‘Yeah, guess it did.’

They both turned back to watching the sunrise.

A few minutes later, their peaceful quiet was interrupted by a still-half-asleep Mac walking into the living room, hair dishevelled.

‘I thought I heard voices…’ He eyed the bagel bag hopefully. ‘Did you get me poppyseed?’

Jack shook his head, and pulled out a poppyseed bagel and handed it to the younger man.

Mac took it eagerly, and started chomping down on it.

Riley looked at the picture the two of them made and laughed.

Well, at least it was a good morning.

* * *

**JET**

**ON-ROUTE TO PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE OVER NEVADA**

* * *

 

‘Here, Riley. This is for you.’

Mac handed the analyst a wire circle, with a neat pattern of criss-crossing wires through the centre.

A dreamcatcher, made of paperclips.

She smiled up at him and reached out to bump his fist to hers.

‘Thanks, Mac.’

He shrugged awkwardly.

‘It’s not really my business…but I wanted to try and help.’ He indicated the dreamcatcher. ‘I don’t think those things actually work, but you know, maybe the placebo effect will help.’

Riley smiled, holding it up and admiring the pattern.

‘It’s the thought that counts, Mac.’

* * *

_Okay, so none of us can stay out of each other’s business._

_It’s a family thing._


	5. A Bathtub, Benzene and an Imaginary Number

_Remember how last time I was locked in a room with a beautiful and intelligent woman, I said I was crazy for trying to escape?_

_Well, I’m probably crazy, because here I am, locked in a room with a beautiful and intelligent woman, trying to escape._

_In my defence, last time, I wasn’t being kept prisoner…_

* * *

**SEPTEMBER 2017**

**INFIRMARY**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

‘You are _not_ going, and that is _final_!’

Mac glared at Beth.

‘But-‘

‘This very morning, you took a nick to the femoral artery-‘

‘-And it was cauterized properly soon after, thanks to your very helpful instructions-‘

‘-and lost at least half a litre of blood, and flattery will get you nowhere, not to mention your sprained ankle, potential concussion and more contusions than I can count. Frankly, I am surprised that you aren’t rambling on about fairies and flying saucers right now!’

He turned to Thornton.

‘Boss-‘

‘You heard Doc, Mac. You’re confined to the infirmary until you’re cleared by medical.’

‘But-‘

‘No buts, Mac. You’re staying here, and that’s an order.’ Thornton’s voice softened slightly. ‘We’ll get them, Mac. It’s nothing Jack, Riley and I can’t handle.’

He sighed.

_They probably can handle it._

_But if they **can’t** , and I’m not there to defend them…_

Beth pushed the button that turned on the screen she used for live video consults when they were on missions.

‘How about a compromise? Mac, if you’re a very good patient, you can watch a live feed of the mission and give advice and assistance as you see fit. I won’t give you any sedatives or painkillers that can mess with your brain. Boss, is that alright with you?’

Thornton nodded. It was a good compromise. She bent over to whisper into Mac’s ear.

‘We’ll be back. I promise.’

She walked to the door.

‘Just in case, I’m locking you in, Mac.’ He glared. ‘Don’t look at me like that. Doc?’

The doctor, who was busying herself updating Mac’s medical records, looked up.

‘I’ll stay in here, make sure the prisoner doesn’t escape.’

Thornton gave her a small smile, and left, locking the door behind her.

Mac near-pouted.

‘I’m not a prisoner.’

Beth raised an eyebrow at him.

‘You’re being held against your will. You’re a prisoner.’

* * *

Beth shone a light into Mac’s eyes, examining the reaction of his pupils carefully.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Angus MacGyver.’

‘Age?’

‘Twenty-five.’

‘What’s the square root of -1?’

‘ _i_ , an imaginary number.’

‘Second law of thermodynamics?’

‘The entropy of the universe increases for a spontaneous change.’

‘Are alkyl groups ortho/para directing or meta directing in terms of electrophilic aromatic substitution of substituted benzene derivatives?’

Mac looked balefully at her.

‘Really? Ortho/para directing.’

‘What happens if I drop caesium in a bathtub full of water?’

‘Boom.’

She nodded.

‘Well, no vomiting or signs of nausea either. You’re not concussed.’

‘See, I’m fine!’

She glared at him.

‘No, you are _far_ from fine. You’re just not concussed.’

Mac was quiet for a moment.

‘Have they landed yet?’

‘ETA’s in forty-five minutes. I’ll call up the screen for you in thirty-five.’

He sighed and fiddled with his hands.

She smiled wanly at him.

‘They can handle themselves, Mac.’

‘I know. Still wish I was there.’

She nodded.

‘I know you do. But the sooner you get better, the sooner you can watch their backs in person.’ He nodded, his hands still moving. She watched them for a moment. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’

‘I _can’t_ go anywhere!’

Beth walked into her office, and came out a moment later.

She held a small bowl of paperclips out to him.

‘Remember, I’m watching you. No escaping.’

_If I can just…_

‘Mac.’

‘Yes?’

‘I can _see_ the cogs turning in your head. No escaping. No even _thinking_ about escaping.’

She rummaged around another cabinet and pulled out some muesli bars, a small container of Jell-O and an apple.

‘You know, you’re just giving me more tools for my escape.’

She shook her head.

‘ _Eat_ the food, Mac.’

He swore she muttered something under her breath.

‘Though, I’d like to see how you’d escape a locked room, while bed-bound and under guard with Jell-O and paperclips.’

* * *

The mission went off without a hitch.

Once the team boarded the jet, largely unharmed, safely on their way home, Mac seemed to relax. And then a few minutes later, winced.

Beth, sitting in a chair in front of the door (she was taking her responsibility to prevent the prisoner from escaping very seriously), apparently reading, raised an eyebrow.

‘I saw that.’

Mac groaned.

_I am never going to live this down…but God, I’m sore all over. Especially in the upper left thigh. Guess that makes sense, nick to the left femoral artery after all; adrenaline really is a great painkiller._

‘Might need some painkillers.’

Shaking her head, Beth walked over to the cabinet where she kept the medications.

‘Would you prefer oral tablets or something in your IV?’

‘I get a choice?’

‘You are conscious and capable of swallowing tablets, and you haven’t got an empty stomach, so you get a choice. IV will kick in faster, but if you prefer to take the tablets, you can. Advantages of having a private physician, I guess.’ She paused for a moment. 'Also, you know I won’t tell anyone about you asking for painkillers, or what form you choose, right? Doctor-patient privilege and all.’

He snorted.

‘I’m really not one of those macho-to-the-point-of-stupid guys.’

‘True.’

‘IV might be a better idea.’

‘Well, then we won’t have to worry about giving you another dose in the middle of the night.’

She busied herself with organizing the painkillers, then picked up her phone.

‘I’ll text Bozer and get him to come keep you company for a bit, if you’d like?’

Mac nodded, glancing at the paperclips in his hands. His fingers itched.

‘He’s on his way, Mac.’

He smiled at her.

‘Thanks.’

* * *

Bozer came in a few minutes later.

‘Yo, bro, you been a good patient for Doctor Beth?’

Beth grinned.

‘He wasn’t awful. There were no actual escape attempts.’

‘Good job, bro! I’m proud of you!’

She shook her head, at Bozer teasing Mac, and Mac engrossed in his paperclips.

‘I’ll be in my office if you need me. Oh, and Bozer, I’ve just given Mac some painkillers, so he might be a bit loopy…’

* * *

‘...A hexagon, Mac?’

Mac pouted at his best friend. Actually pouted.

‘No, it’s a benzene ring, Bozer!’

Bozer picked up another bent paperclip from Mac’s bed. He held it up and examined it.

‘And this is a…bathtub?’

Mac nodded.

Bozer examined another one.

‘And this is…the letter i?’

‘It’s the square root of -1.’

Bozer nodded slowly.

‘Well, she definitely gave you the good painkillers…’

* * *

_It wasn’t easy sitting there while Jack, Riley and Thornton were in danger._

_It’s not easy being unable to defend your loved ones._

_But great company helps. Bozer and Beth certainly fit the bill._

_I’ll have you know, I still came up with an escape plan._

_(And it did involve the Jell-O.)_

_So yeah, I guess I was trying to escape being locked alone in a room with a beautiful and intelligent woman._

_But it wasn’t exactly like last time, so maybe I’m not really crazy._

_Although, Bozer insists I’m nuts when I’m on the good painkillers…not really sure why._


	6. Beer Bottle

**SEPTEMBER 2017**

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

‘9-8, old man. Game point, come on!’

Mac pushed Jack away, and scored.

‘And that’s the game!’

Jack clapped his partner on the back.

‘I let you win that one, kid! Celebrate your first mission back and all!’

‘Whatever helps you sleep at night.’

Riley walked up to the edge of the court.

‘Bozer says burgers are almost done, guys. Oh, and Mac, he wants to know, is Beth coming?’

The blonde agent shook his head.

‘No, she said she wanted to get an early night.’

_Okay, okay, so maybe I sounded a little disappointed. I’m a twenty-five year old, straight, single male. I enjoy the company of a beautiful, intelligent, kind and funny woman. Sue me._

Bozer looked inquiringly towards them as they entered the house. Riley shook her head at him.

‘Aw, you okay, bro?’

Mac raised an eyebrow.

‘You’re asking me if I’m okay? You should be asking Jack; I just kicked his ass!’

‘Hey, I let you win! Don’t listen to him, Bozer!’

Bozer came up and patted his roommate on the shoulder.

‘It’s okay, Mac. Sometimes the ladies like to play hard to get, ‘cause they know you love the chase.’

To punctuate his statement, he waggled his eyebrows at Riley.

Riley just shook her head, stole Bozer’s beer right out of his hands, and took a long swig.

_After years of chasing criminals, I can tell you that chasing is overrated._

_And I’m pretty sure it’s not that._

_I’m pretty sure it’s more like Thornton keeping her distance because she’s our boss._

_Doctors are not supposed to get too close to their patients, after all._

‘Come on, guys. Just because I liked her back in college, doesn’t mean anything now. We’re colleagues. Friends.’

They all looked unconvinced.

‘Denial’s not just a river in Egypt.’

‘You haven’t been on a date since she started working at the Foundation, Mac.’

He rolled his eyes.

‘I didn’t go on a single date after Cindy while we were chasing Nikki, because I was _busy._ I had _other_ things on my mind. You didn’t have as much to say about that. I haven’t been on a date for three months because I just haven’t met the right woman yet. Sometimes that happens. That’s life.’

Jack clapped him on the shoulder.

‘Just a little worried, that’s all, brother.’

Mac sighed.

‘Thank you for the concern, but I am absolutely _fine._ I don’t need you guys poking into my love life.’ He grabbed a beer, opened it and drank. ‘Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to a nice, quiet night in with friends, drinks and burgers.’

The others clinked their beers with his.

‘Hear, hear!’

‘To Mac somehow not getting hurt this time!’

‘Don’t jinx it.’

* * *

Later that night, Jack and Mac sat beside the fire pit, beers in hand. Bozer and Riley had volunteered to clean up.

‘You really okay, brother?’

Mac sighed.

‘Yes, Jack.’

There was silence for a bit.

‘I just don’t want her to end up being your Sarah.’

_Back at MIT, some of my engineering buddies did say she was the closest thing to a female version of me that I’d ever meet._

_I’m never telling Jack that._

‘If you love her, Mac, tell her. Don’t wait around, thinking she’ll be there forever. One day, she’ll be gone.’

Mac looked down, drank some of his beer, and pulled a paperclip from his pocket.

‘I know, Jack.’ He sighed. ‘And…well, if I realize I do someday, or if I realize I’m in love with some other woman, I’ll tell her.’ He looked Jack in the eye. ‘I promise.’

The older man nodded. Mac always kept his promises.

‘Until then, we’ve always got each other.’

‘And Bozer and Riley.’

They both shuddered.

‘I don’t want to think about what they might be doing right now.’

‘Me neither.’

‘But they’re great friends anyway.’

‘The best.’

They clinked their beers together.

‘To great friends.’

* * *

Later that night, as he got into bed, Mac smiled at the little wire beer bottle he held in his hand.

_When I was a boy, my grandfather told me that one day, I wouldn’t be happy with just him and Bozer and Archimedes and explosions that save lives anymore._

_He told me that I’d long to go to sleep and wake up with the soft, sweet curves of a woman in my arms._

_Now, he was from a different time, so maybe he was a little close-minded and didn’t consider **all** the possibilities…but I guess he was right in the end._

_I do want a girlfriend, and later a wife and kids._

_But I’ve got **amazing** friends. **Family** , really._

_And I’m perfectly happy with that._


	7. Igloo

**OCTOBER 2017**

**NORTH COAST OF ALASKA**

* * *

 

_Sometimes, due to the messy and complicated world of geopolitics, the fact that we’re a highly clandestine organization means that we’re stuck in the middle of highly secretive favour-trading._

_Or, put more simply, sometimes we have to run glorified errands._

_This was one of those times._

_So a Russian submarine was stranded off the northern Alaskan coast._

_Since it wasn’t supposed to be there, and the USA is not supposed to be helping said Russia submarine in exchange for a really big favour in the future, guess who was sent to deliver the necessary parts and assist with the repairs?_

_It was all very routine, went down exactly as planned…until we set off for the ex-fil site._

_Turns out some of the sub’s crew weren’t all that happy about being rescued by Americans…_

* * *

‘Uh, Mac…are they supposed to be leaking?’

Shouting over the din of their snowmobiles, Mac replied.

‘No!’

He looked behind them. They were leaving fuel behind.

‘Someone cut the fuel lines!’

He, Jack and Riley stopped their snowmobiles. The other two gathered around Mac, who was crouched down examining his.

‘If they cut the fuel lines, how did we get so far, brother?’

‘They cut them, then patched them, badly. As we drove, it increased the strain on the patch job, and then it failed.’

Riley crouched down beside him.

‘Can you fix it?’

Mac sighed.

‘Properly? No. But I can get us another hundred miles or so.’

The three looked at one another.

‘That’ll have to do.’ Jack pulled out the sat-phone. ‘I’ll call Patty.’

* * *

Thornton, upon hearing about the situation, picked up her phone and texted Beth.

_Briefing room now, Doc. We’ve got a problem._

‘Jack, I’m sending Doc to meet you guys at the ex-fil site. Keep me updated, understand?’

‘Understood.’

Thornton sighed.

Oversight was going to _hate_ this.

But it was better than dragging in a local civilian doctor.

And hey, at least it was on American soil.

And they were already going to hate her for pushing for a Russian investigation, with just, proper punishments, into just _who_ sabotaged her team’s snowmobiles.

She pulled up the number for an Air Force general she’d worked with a few times. He owed her a favour.

‘Hello, it’s Patricia. Remember that favour? I’m cashing in now.’

* * *

Beth gripped the edges of her seat as her stomach did cartwheels.

‘God, I _hate_ flying!’

* * *

‘We’ve lost the snowmobiles, boss. We’re about an hour from the ex-fil site. We could hike-‘

Beth, patched in to the conference call via another sat-phone, suddenly found that despite her airborne status, her stomach stopped cartwheeling. Dread and worry settled instead. She pushed it aside and pulled her mind into her emergency-doctor headspace. Staying objective was vital. She heard Thornton’s voice over the phone.

‘Absolutely not, MacGyver. Stay put, we’ve got your coordinates, wait for the ex-fil team to retrieve you.’

‘I’ve jury-rigged the navigation systems-‘

Beth took a deep breath and interrupted.

‘-Your main concern at this stage is hypothermia. It causes confusion and fatigue. Even with the navigation systems, you’ll get lost.’

‘Listen to Doc, Mac. Stay put. Try and stay warm.’

* * *

‘Stay warm…in ice and snow.’

The team looked around.

Ice, snow, broken snowmobiles.

‘Don’t think even you can make a heater from this, Mac.’

The blonde agent glanced around again.

‘No, we’ve got everything we need to stay warm right here.’

He started digging in the snow.

Jack and Riley glanced at one another, then back to Mac. How quickly did hypothermia set in? He seemed pretty confused.

Mac looked over at them.

‘Come on, help me out. Start digging!’

* * *

Meanwhile, Beth gave instructions to the ex-fil team from mid-air.

‘There are casualty blankets, additional warm clothing, thermoses, herbal tea bags and instant soup packed in the jet. There should be a thermometer in the first aid kit. Take the blankets and some of the clothes, plus some thermoses of hot tea or soup with you when you retrieve the team. Get them out of any wet clothing, keep them warm, and get them to sip at the drinks. Take their temperatures, and inform me.’

Thornton continued.

‘Doc will be at the jet by the time you get back with the team to take over medical care. Go get our people.’

* * *

Closely huddled together in their makeshift shelter, Jack, Riley and Mac bickered despite their situation, as usual.

‘I really miss sunny LA right now.’

‘I don’t want to die in an igloo!’

‘This isn’t an igloo, Jack; it’s not made of blocks of compacted snow. It’s a snow cave.’ Mac glanced around at their shelter. ‘And it’s not a very good one. It really should be at least 4 feet deep.’

‘Great, we’re getting hypothermia and Mr Wizard here is lecturing us about snow.’

‘Technically, I’m lecturing you about snow cave construction…’

* * *

_After spending way too much time way too close to one another, the ex-fil team rescued us._

_We spent the trip back wrapped in blankets and spare coats, wearing two hats each, I might add, sipping herbal tea and soup._

_I would have preferred coffee, but caffeine speeds up heat loss, so is bad when you have moderate hypothermia._

* * *

**JET**

**SOMEWHERE OVER CANADA’S WEST COAST**

* * *

 

Mac, wrapped in at least two blankets, a hat on his head and dressed in clean, warm clothes, sipped at his peppermint tea. Next to him, Jack was similarly attired and sipping instant chicken soup, while Riley, also covered in blankets, drank chamomile tea.

_Suddenly, it hit me._

‘Where did all of this stuff come from? We don’t normally take these supplies on missions…Did you bring them with you, Beth? I don’t think they’d all fit in that plane you flew up in…’

Jack reached over and pulled Mac’s hat further down on his head.

‘Definitely hypothermia, right, Beth? Slows the brain!’ He grinned. ‘Unless you’re losing your touch, kid.’

Mac snorted.

From her seat beside Riley, Beth shook her head.

‘ _Always_ be prepared. Or, in this case, if you’re going on a mission to Alaska in October, take extra warm clothes, warm drinks and blankets with you!’

She got up to make them more hot drinks.

Jack jogged his partner lightly with his elbow.

‘I can see why you fell for her. She’s like a female you.’

Jack watched as Mac glanced over at Beth, expression soft. Then, the younger man turned back to him, and elbowed him back.

‘ _You know_ I was a _terrible_ boy scout.’

* * *

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

_I’m still plotting my revenge on Bozer for what he did when we got back to headquarters. Safe to say, my vengeance will be diabolical._

After greeting Riley appropriately, then Jack and Mac, Bozer flung an arm around Beth’s shoulders.

‘So, Doctor Beth, what’d you think of my main man Mac’s birthday suit?’

Mac groaned internally. Beth shrugged, looking unruffled.

‘I’m a doctor, Bozer. He hasn’t got anything I haven’t seen before.’ She let Bozer digest that for a moment, then continued. ‘Also, you know you only remove _wet_ clothing from a hypothermia patient, right? And since no-one decided to cross polar bear plunge off their bucket list because they thought they might die, that wasn’t a problem.’

Bozer, seemingly inspired, turned to Riley, Jack and his best friend.

‘Any deep, dark secrets come to light in the snow, my friends?’

The three field agents shared a glance.

‘What happens in the igloo-‘

‘-Snow cave-‘

‘-stays in the snow cave.’

* * *

After a debrief that lasted all morning and well into the afternoon, _far_ too long, considering they’d flown overnight, Mac stepped into the infirmary. Beth was replacing the supplies she’d taken to Alaska and noting down what needed to be replenished. He plucked a paperclip from the bowl she kept in there, and started unwinding it.

‘Thanks for coming. I know you’re terrified of flying.’

She got up and faced him, shrugging.

‘Technically, I didn’t have a choice. My boss _did_ order me to go. All in the line of duty.’

Mac shrugged.

_I’m terrified of heights, and I’ve hung on to a plane’s landing gear as it took off for duty._

_But it being necessary didn’t make it easy._

‘Thanks anyway.’

He handed her the wire igloo.

She took it and laughed.

‘I thought it was a snow cave.’

He grinned.

‘Yeah, that’s not so easy to depict using a paperclip as a medium.’

Her smile broadened.

‘Fair enough.’

They stood there in a comfortable silence for a while, both looking at the igloo in her hands.

Mac broke it.

‘You want to come over? Jack, Riley and I were going to fire up the fire pit; try and get the last of the frost off our bones.’

She considered carefully for a moment, then smiled up at him.

‘Well, I did fly to Alaska and back in less than a day. I think I’ve earned a late night and a few drinks with friends.’

* * *

_Despite what Bozer thinks, no deep, dark secrets came to light in the snow cave._

_We didn’t really think we were going to die, after all._

_It’s easy to forget, when we’re in the field, that there’s others who aren’t there with us who’ve also got our backs._

_Thornton, the Foundation members who make up our ex-fil teams, Beth, even Bozer._

_This mission was a good reminder._

_They had our backs, and that’s what kept us alive._

_We knew they had our backs, and that’s why we knew we’d survive._

_Might look like a small team, when you see us out there, but it’s not._

_The supporting cast and crew’s just as important as the stars in front of the camera._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I made up this mission because I wanted them to get hypothermia so that Bozer can be silly at the end. Also, Mac being pedantic about igloos/snow caves is amusing.


	8. 007

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the advent of 1.11, Scissors, I now consider this story to be no longer fully canon-compliant; please take it as an AU off Chisel, 1.09.  
> This has now caught up with where I am in this story on Fanfiction.net, so updates will now be every second day.

**DECEMBER 2016**

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

_People will fixate on the smallest and strangest things._

_I, of all people, should know that, but it never ceases to surprise me when I see it in others…_

* * *

‘You know, bro, what sucks the most?’

Mac, seated on the other chair beside the fire pit, turned to Bozer.

‘What?’

‘My best friend’s a real-life James Bond, and I can’t tell anyone!’

The blonde shook his head and smiled.

‘I’m no 007.’

Bozer reached out and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

‘Hell yeah, you are! Saving the world, blowing the bad guys away, charming and kissing all the girls?’

Mac snorted.

‘You’re completely forgetting how I was in high school. It’s a miracle Penny went out with me.’

Bozer waggled his eyebrows.

‘Well, what about the girl on the train? Katarina?’

His roommate groaned.

_I should not even be surprised that Jack and Riley couldn’t keep their mouths shut._

‘Or your smoking-hot, genius-MIT-graduate co-worker-turned-girlfriend?’

Mac raised an eyebrow, and Bozer continued.

‘…who unfortunately also turned out to be evil.’ He paused for a moment. ‘See, you’re totally James Bond!’

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the fire crackle.

Bozer broke it.

‘Mac, reckon you could help me with my game? You know, not that mine’s not great or anything, just, you know, sometimes a little help’s good.’

Mac turned in his seat, eyebrow raised.

‘You’re asking me for help with women. _Me._ My most functional and stable relationship with a woman is my relationship with my co-worker and your so-called future girlfriend.’

Bozer shrugged.

‘Well, it sounds stupid when you put it that way…but yeah.’

Mac shook his head, and sipped at his beer, gathering his thoughts.

‘I guess…be yourself. Those lines you’re always using on her? I’m pretty sure they never work. And if she doesn’t like you for who you really are, it’s never going to work out anyway…so why try to be someone else?’

Bozer sighed and drank more of his beer.

‘That’s what Riley said.’

Mac raised an eyebrow.

_Riley’s totally been holding out on me._

_I think she actually likes him._

‘It’s just kind of hard, bro. I’m not sure if she’d like _actual_ Bozer. I mean, sure, I make a mean burger and awesome costumes, but at the end of the day, I’m a washed-up fry cook with filmmaker dreams, who got a job because he stumbled upon his best friend’s secret double life!’

Mac punched Bozer lightly on the arm.

‘Hey, don’t talk about my best friend that way! He’s an incredible and loyal friend, one of the best men I know, and he wouldn’t have gotten his job without impressing Thornton with his skills!’

Bozer turned to him.

‘You really think so?’

Mac nodded.

‘I really think so.’

‘Thanks, bro. Appreciate it.’

A comfortable silence hung around them for a good while.

‘But, bro, if your work ever becomes declassified, I get to make the movie of your life, right?’

Mac laughed, and clapped Bozer on the shoulder.

‘Of course.’

‘I’m totally going to get that guy from X-Men, the one who plays Havok, to play you.’

‘Do we really look that alike? I seriously don’t see it.’

‘You need your eyes checked, man.’

* * *

_I firmly believe that, despite what Bozer thinks, I am definitely nothing like James Bond._

_I also firmly believe that I really don’t look anything like the actor who plays Havok in X-Men._

_What I do firmly believe, though, is that one day, Bozer and I are finally going to manage to have stable, functional relationships with women who aren’t evil._

_Until then, we’ve got each other._

_And even if I’m wrong, well, we’ll always have each other._

* * *

The next morning, Bozer grinned when Mac placed the wire 007 symbol on the table in front of him.

‘Thanks, bro.’

‘Anytime.’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there is a meta joke in this. Sue me.


	9. Shield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is a day early, for two reasons, one of which is explained below, one of which will become apparent in time.
> 
> So, I’ve now finished the two other MacGyver fanfics I mentioned. I’m going to start posting them on an alternating schedule when _Paperclip Charms_ finishes, and because I’m so happy and proud of myself, I’m posting a day early. 
> 
> Here’s the summaries as a teaser!
> 
>  _Best Days of Your Life_ : 16-year-old Angus MacGyver’s got a lot on his plate: classes at MIT, his part-time job at Dalton Auto Repair, girls (dating is weird), and he’s somehow caught the attention of a government think-tank. Not to mention, his roommate/best friend is writing a TV script featuring him in the titular role…
> 
>  _Just Another Patriotic Guy_ : 25-year-old Senior EOD tech Staff Sergeant Angus ‘Mac’ MacGyver’s life is irrevocably changed when a bombmaker known as The Ghost targets an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Luckily, his friends are there to catch him when he falls and help him to get back on his feet again.
> 
> As you can see, they’re going to be quite different, at least thematically. (And I have tried to make them quite different; hopefully I succeeded…) Pick your poison!

**JUNE 2014**

**DXS HEADQUARTERS**

* * *

 

Jack watched as Mac left the gym, looking far too happy for after a workout.

Just as he thought, Nikki followed a minute later.

He strode up and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.

Nikki smiled at him, motioning with her head in the direction that Mac had gone.

‘He’s a fully-grown man, you know. An adult.’

Jack nodded, but didn’t move.

‘I know.’

Nikki leaned against the wall.

‘I’m only three years older than he is. Hardly a cougar.’

He nodded again.

‘I know. He’s just…inexperienced.’

She raised an eyebrow.

‘But he’s a fast learner.’

‘ _Not_ so worried about that. We share a comm channel and I spend _way_ too much time with you two.’ Jack pinned her with his most threatening stare. ‘Kid’s never had a serious girlfriend before. He really, really likes you. I’ve been watching his back for ages, and I don’t intend to stop.  If you hurt him, if you break his heart-‘

‘-You’ll break me.’ She patted his shoulder. ‘Relax, Jack. I like him too. I’ve got no intentions of hurting him.’

She slipped past him, then turned back to face him.

‘Oh, and Jack? He’s really not a kid any more. You should try to stop thinking of him as one.’

* * *

**SEPTEMBER 2016**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

Jack screamed as he attacked the punching bag with all the force he could muster, wishing it was a certain ex-teammate instead.

She’d betrayed her team, her country.

And worst of all, she’d betrayed Mac.

Mac, who’d loved her so much, thought she was the love of his life. Who’d mourned her, grieved her deeply, tortured his brilliant mind trying to think of ways he could have saved her.

Jack wasn’t sure if the kid (He did sometimes think of him as a kid, even though he knew he really, really wasn’t. No-one went through all of this and came out still a kid.) would ever pull through.

He was pulled from his thoughts by said kid.

‘Jack?’

Mac stood somewhat awkwardly in the door, looking almost shy. He held out his hand to Jack, who reached out and took the paperclip shield.

‘I…I just wanted to say thanks. For watching my back and protecting me all these years.’

Jack slid an arm around the other man’s shoulders.

‘Brother, you shouldn’t have to thank a teammate and friend for not betraying you, but I’ll happily watch your back as long as I live.’

Mac smiled wanly, and pulled him into a side-hug.

‘Really, thanks, Jack. For everything.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this, I kind of realized how many possible interpretations there are of Nikki- I tried to keep it as ambiguous as possible, so you could project your interpretation.
> 
> helloyesimhere has written an amazing interpretation of her- go check that out, if you haven’t already!


	10. Fish Hook

**OCTOBER 2017**

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

_It is generally accepted that in hunter-gatherer societies, there were distinct roles for men and women._

_Men hunted, women gathered._

_Now, in this enlightened day and age, we’ve moved past that._

_But the institution of the male-bonding fishing trip remains…_

* * *

‘Fishing? Come on, man, that’s boring!’

Jack shook his head at Bozer, and turned to Mac.

‘He’s talking crazy talk, brother. You in?’

Mac considered for a moment.

_Normally, I’d say yes in an instant._

_Fishing with good company’s great!_

_My grandfather used to take me all the time when I was a kid._

_Spending time in nature, chatting with friends, and there’s something very satisfying about catching your own dinner. Or at least trying to._

Jack narrowed his eyes at his partner.

‘Wait a moment…you up to it?’

_Remember how I said **normally** , I’d say yes in an instant?_

_Well, yesterday, we got back from a mission._

_And I came back a **little** worse for wear._

_Fatigue, dehydration, a little light-headed from not eating…_

_Really, I’m **fine** now. _

Mac rolled his eyes.

‘Yes, I’m fine. Let’s go fishing.’

His partner crossed his arms.

‘Conditional on you getting medical clearance.’

The blonde agent sighed and pulled out his phone.

**To: Beth**

**Jack, Bozer and I want to go fishing. Am I fit for this mission?**

Mac turned to Bozer.

‘It’s fun. I promise.’

Bozer looked sceptical, but nodded.

‘Alright, I’m in, bro, as long as Doctor Beth clears you.’

Right on cue, his phone chimed.

**How are you feeling? Any dizziness or weakness? Answer HONESTLY or else.**

He shook his head, smiling, and replied.

**No dizziness or weakness. I’m honestly feeling alright.**

Moments later, his phone chimed again.

**Make sure you stay hydrated, and bring and eat snacks, at the very least, though sandwiches would be better. No running or swimming after fish or trying to reel in anything heavier than twenty pounds.**

His phone chimed again as he finished reading her message.

**Have fun. Hope you actually catch something! :)**

His smile widened.

**Thanks, Beth. If we catch enough for a meal, you should come over for dinner.**

He paused for a moment after hitting send.

Though he’d of course told her that she, like Jack and Riley, was welcome at his place any time and didn’t have to knock, she still didn’t come over as regularly as the others.

_Still trying to keep some distance._

_I wish she wasn’t._

He pocketed his phone.

‘I got cleared by medical. Let’s go!’

‘Pretty long conversation for just medical clearance, brother.’

‘And you were awful smiley for a purely business conversation, bro. Mixed in a little pleasure?’

Mac rolled his eyes and stepped past his friends towards the door.

_Well, wouldn’t be a fishing trip without banter._

* * *

Mac’s phone chimed as Jack drove away from the house.

**IF you catch dinner, I’ll come over. I might even bring you pumpkin pie. I’ve just put one in the oven.**

His brow furrowed.

_She’s making pumpkin pie, in the middle of October?_

He typed out a reply.

**Mixing up your holidays, Beth. ;) Thanksgiving’s not for another six weeks.**

Her reply came almost instantly.

**Firstly, pumpkin pie is amazing and hence a perfectly acceptable foodstuff all year round. Secondly, it’s a SPOOKY pumpkin pie for Halloween. I’m practicing.**

**Spooky pie? I’ve got to see that.**

**Consider it an incentive to catch some fish, then. :)**

**Doesn’t work that way, Beth.**

He hesitated for a moment, then typed another message.

**You coming with us for Halloween? Bozer wants to know how many costumes he’s got to make.**

It took a minute for her to reply.

**He’s cutting it fine, isn’t he? What theme is he going with this year?**

**He always pulls it together. He won’t tell me. Never really does. Just tells me who I am and gives me a costume. You in?**

He waited a few minutes for her reply.

**Well, I can’t turn down the chance to be part of one of Bozer’s epic group costumes. I’m in.**

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Jack noticed both young men texting, smiles on their faces.

He shook his head, smirking, and muttered under his breath.

‘Young love.’

* * *

**RILEY’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

**Don’t worry, baby, I’ll bring home the bacon. Or fish, in this case. Oh, gotta sign off now, we’re here and Mac says it’s time to cast on.**

Riley didn’t know much about fishing, but she was pretty sure that the term was just _casting._ Casting on was for knitting.

She closed Bozer’s text, and pulled up another number on her phone.

**To: Beth Taylor**

**Apparently the boys are going fishing. I’ve been drowning in testosterone all week. Wanna come over for a girls’ day?**

A minute later, her phone chimed.

**Are we talking rom-coms, hair-braiding and painting each other’s nails? Because I hate rom-coms, and painted nails aren’t practical for a doctor. Nothing against hair-braiding, though.**

Riley grinned.

**Nah, I’m thinking more snacks and superhero movies.**

Beth’s reply was faster this time.

**I like superhero movies.**

Riley’s smile grew more devious.

**Oh, forgot to mention ogling said superheroes. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we watch the X-Men reboots. ;)**

Reading Riley’s message, Beth groaned, cheeks pinking slightly. She thought for a moment, before replying.

**The first time I saw First Class, I thought Mac might have left the Army to pursue acting, you know.**

Riley’s reply was almost instant.

**The resemblance is uncanny.**

* * *

**MACGYVER’S FAVOURITE FISHING SPOT**

**LOCATION: CLASSIFIED**

* * *

 

Mac’s comfortable, silent contemplation was broken by Jack dropping a bottle of water in his lap. A second later, a sandwich from Bozer joined it.

He shook his head, grinning.

‘I appreciate it, guys, but I don’t need your mother-henning.’

They each clapped him on the back.

‘Beg to differ, brother.’

‘You’d never eat a proper meal without me, bro.’

He sighed and took a swig of water, then unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite.

‘Did Beth put you up to this?’

The other two shook their heads.

‘We just know you.’

‘And we care.’

Bozer waggled his eyebrows.

‘But don’t think we didn’t catch how your mind went straight to her!’

Jack scooted closer to him.

‘Got a certain doctor on the mind, kid? Don’t think I missed you texting all the way up here!’

Mac groaned, and taking his time, reeled in his line, checked the bait, and cast again.

‘Look, she’s a clever, kind, funny woman.’ He paused for a moment. ‘And yeah, she’s beautiful.’ He shrugged. ‘Might be something there.’ He watched the lines in silence for a moment, then jogged Bozer with his elbow. ‘Someone else here was texting the whole way, too!’

‘You, bro, don’t have the girlfriend excuse!’

The other two men turned to look at him.

‘So you’re official?’

Bozer nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

‘Yeah, bro, we’re official.’

Mac reached out and clasped his shoulder, grinning.

‘I’m happy for you, Bozer.’

Jack shook his head, but he smiled and spoke without heat.

‘She was _supposed_ to be off-limits.’

‘A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, when he meets that special girl.’

The older man nodded.

‘Amen to that.’

Turning back to his fishing rod, Bozer smirked.

‘Now, we’ve just got to get Mac together with Doctor Beth, and find Jack a girl, and then we’re all set!’

The other two groaned. Mac punched Jack lightly in the arm.

‘Turnabout’s fair play, old man.’

Jack shook his head and reeled in his line.

‘The worst thing is, you both have more functional relationships with a woman than I do! _Me_!’

Bozer shook his head.

‘I dunno, man. Riley’s got this thing about you and Thornton…’

* * *

**RILEY’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

‘Do you think they’re actually going to catch anything?’ Riley looked up at Beth from her position crouching in front of the fridge. ‘I’m wondering if we should pick up some food to take over for dinner.’ She got up and faced the other woman. ‘You _are_ coming, right?’

Beth nodded.

‘I more or less told Mac I would. And kind of promised him I’d bring that pie with me.’ She gestured at the pie sitting in Riley’s fridge.

Riley put a hand on her hip.

‘Told Mac? Promised him _pie_? When? Spill!’

Beth shook her head.

‘It’s not what you’re thinking. He texted this morning for medical clearance to go on the fishing trip.’

‘And what does that have to do with dinner plans or promises of pie?’

‘I’m not the only one who got news about a fishing trip or a dinner invite.’

‘You don’t have the boyfriend excuse.’

Beth smiled at the other woman.

‘So you’re official?’

Riley nodded, returning the smile.

‘Yeah. Keeping it quiet, just telling those who matter, but yeah.’

Beth’s smile broadened.

‘Congratulations! I’m happy for you.’

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment.

‘So, you think the pie will be enough, Beth? ‘Cause if so, we’ve got time for _Apocalypse_ before we head over…’

The doctor nodded, grinning.

‘I’m down for that.’

* * *

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

Mac laughed as he lifted the pumpkin pie, decorated with meringue ghosts, out of the box.

‘Oh, _very_ spooky!’

Beth jabbed a finger at him.

‘Mock it again, and no pie for you!’

Mac put the pie down, and raised his hands in the air.

‘Woah, not mocking.’ He grinned. ‘Besides, that’d be cruel and unusual punishment.’

Beth raised an eyebrow at him.

‘Don’t they teach you to withstand torture in spy school?’

‘Not something as terrible as denial of pie!’

From the doorway, Jack, Riley and Bozer watched as their friends served up the pie, exchanging knowing looks.

* * *

Later that night, Mac smiled as he tucked himself into bed, eyes on the little paperclip fish hook he’d made on the way home earlier.

_There hasn’t really been much of a change in fish hook design for thousands of years._

_That’s the funny thing about the passage of time._

_Some things change._

_And some things stay more or less exactly the same._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole idea of going fishing comes from me reading the list of MacGyverisms on the relevant wiki and one of them being Mac creating a fishing lure out of something like a gum wrapper. That got me thinking about fishing, then I figured I’ve got to have at least one guys’ day/girls’ day story in this fic…and then this happened. My only regret is not incorporating Thornton, but I couldn’t think of a way to have her come to Riley’s girls’ day- it seems too much for Riley to invite her over to watch superhero movies!


	11. Gift

**DECEMBER 2017**

**SHOPPING MALL**

**LA**

* * *

 

_My grandfather used to say we don’t get everything we want._

_In fact, he said, half the time, we get exactly what we **don’t** want. But we have to deal with it._

_Now, I’ve never been one to sit idly by._

_I’ve always been a fan of trying to **make** what you get into what you want._

_Or at least make it okay._

* * *

Mac watched as the traps he’d set went off and his makeshift weapons fired, incapacitating the terrorists holding the Christmas shoppers hostage.

He watched as one got off one last lucky shot, and crimson began to stain the upper left side of a woman’s shirt.

He barely felt himself run over to her, frantically trying to stem the blood pouring from the wound as she gasped and choked.

He glanced at the shopping bag she held in her slackening grip. A tag poked out. _To: Ben. From: Santa._

‘Hey, hey, stay with me. Tell me about Ben. What did Santa get him?’

The woman gasped for air.

‘My…son…he’s five…and it’s a…he’s wanted it…so much…’

She gasped again. His hands were covered in blood. Her gasps stopped. Her eyes rolled away and she went still.

‘No, no, _no_!’

He felt a hand grasp his shoulder and heard a voice. Jack.

‘Mac…there’s nothing you can do…’ Jack’s hand reached out and checked Ben’s mother’s neck for a pulse. ‘She’s gone.’

* * *

Mac was silent as Jack drove back to headquarters.

He looked down at his hands. He’d wiped off most of the blood, but some was stuck under his fingernails and in the creases in his skin. He found himself studying the stains with morbid fascination.

‘She had a son.’ He looked out the window. ‘He’s five.’

From the back seat, Riley reached a hand forward and squeezed Mac’s shoulder. Jack bit his lip and nodded slowly.

‘I’m sorry, brother.’

* * *

‘Jack, I’m fine! I don’t need to go to the infirmary!’

Jack dragged his partner to Beth’s office, even as the younger man struggled half-heartedly.

‘At least get that thing on your cheek checked out.’

‘It’s a scrape! Just a scrape.’

Beth was already standing by a bed, disinfectant and cotton balls at the ready.

‘Infection’s a nasty business, Mac.’

Jack deposited his charge into Beth’s capable hands, and slipped out quietly.

The doctor led him over to the sink and turned on the tap.

Wordlessly, Mac started scrubbing his hands, watching the red-tinted water slide down the drain.

* * *

After his hands were clean, Beth guided the blonde agent back over to the bed. He sat without protest.

She dabbed gently at the wound on his cheek with some disinfectant.

After a moment, he reached up and grabbed her hand in his. She stilled.

‘A woman _died_ in front of me today. I…I couldn’t help her.’ He looked down.

Beth was suddenly struck by the memory of the first time she lost a patient. Her residency supervisor had told her you couldn’t save everyone, but you had the duty to try. And after you had, that had to be enough.

Mac wasn’t okay with losing even a single person when they were just a number, a victim of a bomb he couldn’t defuse, or little more than a person he passed on the street. To lose someone, a civilian, right in front of him…

‘It’s nearly _Christmas_.’ He looked up again, locking eyes with her. ‘She had a son. His name is Ben. And he’s _five._ ’ His eyes filled with tears.

‘Oh, Mac…’

Feeling her own eyes water, she leaned forward and embraced him.

He tucked his head into the crook of her neck and sobbed.

* * *

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

Mac emerged from the shower to find Thornton standing in the kitchen.

She put the six-pack of beer in her hand on the bench, then walked forward towards him.

‘Ben’s present has been released from evidence. Santa will at least be able to grant him one Christmas wish.’

Mac nodded and gave her a very wan smile.

‘Thanks, boss.’

She reached forward and clasped his shoulder.

‘Least I could do, Mac.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I’m sorry.’

And she strode out the door.

Mac glanced outside, where Jack, Bozer, Riley and Beth gathered around the fire pit.

He sighed, rolled his shoulders, and walked outside, picking up a paperclip, then another, along the way.

He sat down on the deck between Bozer and Jack, in front of Beth, who was perched on one of the chairs. Riley, seated on Bozer’s other side, handed him a beer.

He opened it and drank. Jack patted his knee. Bozer reached out and squeezed his forearm.

After a moment’s hesitation, Beth scooted her chair forward and started massaging his shoulders.

Mac fiddled with the paperclips in his hands.

A little wire gift, a parcel with a bow on top, took shape.

* * *

_I don’t always get what I want._

_In fact, I get a lot of things I really, really **don’t** want._

_Sometimes, I can’t change that._

_Life has a definite no-returns-or-exchanges policy._

_But I’ve got a lot of good in my life._

_More good than bad, definitely._

_And that’s a gift I cherish._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, not the jolliest of Christmas chapters… *ducks for cover*. I’ve got a fluffy piece of the fluffiest, most self-indulgent fluff I’ve ever written to post tomorrow for Christmas (it’s my present to myself/my inner fangirl), which will be called Thermodynamics.


	12. Key

**JANUARY 2018**

* * *

 

_Okay, so I’m **definitely** crazy._

_I got locked in a room with a beautiful and intelligent woman **yet again.**_

_And **yet again** , I’m trying to escape. _

_A bit of context: Today was Victor Levkin’s birthday. In rather stereotypically Russian fashion, Alexander Orlov sent us a **very, very** large bottle of **very** Russian vodka to commemorate the occasion. _

* * *

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

‘Bozer! Riley! Let us out!’

Mac thumped ineffectually on his bedroom door. There was no response from Bozer and Riley, aside from some drunken giggling and muttering about leaving the lovebirds alone to sort it out. Or was that make out? Their speech wasn’t exactly clear, and their words were slightly muffled by distance and the door.

_I’m really not sure if this proof of vodka is actually legal._

_Certainly, Bozer and Riley have had **far** too much. _

_Jack had the right idea, deciding to pass and head home._

_Even if it’s because he can’t take this level of drink anymore, since he’s getting old._

The blonde agent turned to the young woman locked in with him.

‘Sorry, Beth.’

She smiled.

‘It’s not your fault.’ Her smile turned more wry. ‘I could definitely use that vodka to scrub in for surgery.’

She glanced around the room, eyes lingering on his bed, before she sat down on his desk chair.

Mac slumped down on his bed, grabbing a paperclip from the bowl on his bedside table.

‘Beware Russians bearing gifts.’

‘I think the saying is beware _Greeks_ bearing gifts, Mac.’

‘Same thing.’

They sat in silence for a while. Beth glanced over at his door.

‘Why does your bedroom door lock from the outside? Doesn’t seem to make much sense from a security and safety perspective.’

Mac sighed, fiddling with the paperclip.

‘It locks from the inside too, but the two mechanisms are completely distinct. Lock it from the outside, can only open it from the outside, and vice versa. It’s a security measure; you know, in case I ever have to lock Bozer in here for his own safety or something.’

She looked around the room, taking into account the assortment of objects that Mac kept in here.

Paperclips, both unaltered and twisted into various shapes, a Swiss Army knife or two, various odds and ends, including what looked like bits of a toaster, a vacuum cleaner and a turkey baster, as well as half the contents of a hardware store. Cleaning supplies, which would be out of place in anyone else’s bedroom, and a collection of batteries and plenty of books.

Some photos, a laptop, a shoebox tucked into a corner of the closet that she suspected contained his medals from his days in the Army, considering the little bit of ribbon sticking out from under the lid.

‘You know, there’s plenty of stuff in here that I’m sure you can use to get us out of here.’

He glanced around and shrugged.

‘Yeah, but I really don’t want to blow a hole in my own house.’

She laughed. ‘Fair enough.’ She indicated the paperclip in his hands. ‘You could pick the lock.’

Mac looked over at her and smiled ruefully.

‘Not sure if I could, actually.’ She shot him a disbelieving look. ‘I, well, tricked out all the locks in this place as a security measure. I kind of made something that might well be beyond my abilities…’

She shook her head.

‘That’s very impressive, considering your skills.’ She paused for a moment, considering. ‘You put so much effort into the security system, and yet you give us all keys and tell us we don’t even have to knock?’

He smirked.

‘Doesn’t mean there’s not a security system guarding my front door. Just means it recognizes you as friends.’

He sat up properly, then walked to the door, paperclip in hand, and knelt down and started working it in the lock. A moment later, Beth stood too, and came over to watch, standing right behind him.

_Okay, okay, so I’m being really slow._

_I know._

_In my defence, it’s a hard lock to pick. I designed it myself to be as un-pickable as possible. And I’m trying to access the mechanism of the outside lock from the inside, which isn’t easy._

_And…I might be a little tipsy._

_And definitely distracted._

He could very clearly smell the scent of the hand lotion she used to stop her hands from cracking.

_She’s standing really close to me._

_I’m not in a life-or-death situation, or even on a mission. It’s a lot harder to compartmentalize._

_I’m human!_

_The flesh is weak, or whatever!_

After several minutes, he gave up.

_Yeah, I know, me give up? Hell must have just frozen over._

_Look, I’m locked in a room, all alone, with a beautiful and intelligent woman. In fact, I’m locked in **my bedroom** , all alone, with a beautiful and intelligent woman. _

**_This time_ ** _, I’m not trying to escape._

_At least, I’m not trying **too** hard._

She took a few steps back, and he stood up. She gave him a small smile.

‘Guess we’re stuck in here, then.’

He bit his lip. Her tone was light, conversational, but her words made him irrationally upset.

‘Is being locked in with me _really_ that bad?’

_Okay, I’m definitely drunk enough to substantially lower my inhibitions._

She looked up sharply at him.

‘ _Of course_ not, I enjoy your company, Mac.’

He ran a hand through his hair.

‘Then why do you run so hot and cold? Sometimes we’re as close as old times, and sometimes…’

She sighed and took a half-step closer to him.

‘Mac…I’m your _doctor_. You are my _patient._ I _can’t_ get that close.’

He nodded, and took a half-step closer to her.

‘Yeah, maybe normally. But our jobs are special; what we do is _special_ and unlike anything else. I think technically, I’m Jack’s superior, and Riley’s, and I’ve definitely got seniority over Bozer, but we don’t keep our distance from each other, because otherwise we’d be really very lonely.’

She took a step towards him.

‘Look, Mac, I get it.’ She smiled wryly at him. ‘I know the Foundation hasn’t got any rules against fraternizing, or you would have been fired _long_ ago.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Might have avoided a couple of problems that way.’

He gave a snort of laughter.

Her face turned serious again.

‘These are my own rules. My own code. When I took my Oath, I agreed to uphold my code too. It’s important to me.’ She took a deep breath, and looked up into his eyes. ‘But I’m sorry if I’m making you feel like I don’t care, or I’m not your friend. I’m really, really sorry, because you’re a dear friend of mine.’ She looked down in thought for a few breaths. ‘I need to compromise. You’re right, we’ve got some pretty special circumstances.’ She smiled up at him. ‘I don’t need to, and I shouldn’t, keep such a distance. We’re friends, _dear old friends_ , after all.’ Her voice sounded almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

Suddenly, music blared.

‘There you see her, sitting there across the way. She don’t got a lot to say but there’s something about her...And you don’t know why, but you’re dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl…’

Mac groaned, desperately wanting to sink into the floor.

Beth laughed, cheeks slightly pink.

‘Points to them for trying. You know, for secret agents, they’re really not subtle about knowing all about our college days.’

He took another half-step closer to her.

‘You know, my engineering buddies used to play that to me all the time.’

_Yeah, I’m definitely drunk._

_Or at least, I’m definitely blaming the vodka._

Her cheeks got a little pinker.

‘Did they really?’

He nodded, and moved a little closer.

‘Uh huh. They were trying to get me to kiss you.’

There was practically no space between them now. He reached out and started toying with a lock of her hair. She was obviously and clearly blushing.

‘We were pretty obvious then, weren’t we?’

‘Yeah.’ He locked eyes with her. ‘I was young and silly for not doing anything about it.’

She reached up and put her hands on his shoulders, leaning up towards him.

‘No more than I was.’

At that moment, the door flew open, revealing Jack on the other side.

‘Mac, I got this really weird prank call from Bozer, said he’d-‘

They jumped apart almost comically.

‘-I’m interrupting something, aren’t I?’

There was silence for a moment. Beth and Mac locked eyes and came to a silent agreement. Too much vodka, that was all.

‘No, not at all.’

‘Thanks for rescuing us, Jack.’

Beth stepped around Mac, and out the door.

Jack watched her pick up her things and walk out the front door, pulling out her phone to call a cab, then turned back to his partner, who was playing with the paperclip in his hands.

‘You okay, brother?’

Mac sighed, glanced at the little wire key in his hands, and then looked at Jack.

‘Yeah, just had a little too much vodka.’

* * *

_I don’t get a lot of second chances._

_You know, since most of the time, if it doesn’t work the first time, I’d be dead._

_But I got one this time._

_And I’m terrible at making plans, I’m definitely an on-the-fly kind of guy,  but I don’t plan on letting this one slip._

_Next time I’m locked in a room with this beautiful and intelligent woman? I’m so not trying to escape. Not in the slightest._

_And that’s a promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I’m completely over-doing the whole ‘locked in a room with a beautiful and intelligent woman but trying to escape’ thing. And yes, it’s mostly because I find it amusing and think it reflects Mac’s character quite nicely.


	13. Shirt and Pants

**FEBRUARY 2018**

**JACK’S CAR**

**ON-ROUTE TO PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

_As you can guess, once upon a time, I was a skinny kid. A pretty good runner, and stronger than I looked, but a skinny kid nonetheless._

_Now, I’m still wiry compared to, say, Jack, or your average Marine, but in this day and age of ‘bulking up’ and ‘not skipping leg day’, lean muscle, which I have plenty of, thank you very much, is really underrated._

_So, I guess, long story short, I’m really not as shy as I used to be._

_Still, I’m getting Jack back for this one._

* * *

‘Mac got thrown through a plate glass window; he’s bleeding all over my front seat.’

Said blonde agent rolled his eyes.

‘Jack’s ribs are probably bruised. Or maybe fractured.’

His partner shot him a look. His ribs might be bruised, but they definitely weren’t fractured.

_Serves him right for tattling to Beth._

The doctor’s voice came through the comms. She’d definitely become accustomed to their antics.

‘Riley, do either of them look like they might die or pass out on the way back here or not be able to get to the infirmary under their own power?’

Riley gave both the male agents an once-over.

‘Well, I’m no doctor, but no, no and no.’

‘We’ll leave all the treatment until you get back, then.’ There was a pause for a moment. Riley was pretty sure it was for effect. ‘ _Immediately_ after you get back. Jack, Mac, I’m expecting you both to report to the infirmary within five minutes of parking the car.’ Wisely ignoring the grumbling, Beth addressed the hacker. ‘Now, Riley, are you alright?’

The hacker answered completely honestly, because she was sensible about medical care, unlike _some people._

‘Not a scratch, Beth.’

‘Good. Remember, five minutes.’

* * *

Mac and Jack, still grumbling at one another, entered the infirmary.

True to her word, Beth was timing them.

‘Four minutes and twenty-two seconds, gentlemen. Cutting it a bit close there.’

‘You can do a lot with thirty-eight seconds, Beth.’

‘Yes, yes I can, Mac. So sooner you get in here, sooner you get out.’

She pointed to the two beds she’d prepared, and each man sat down on one of them.

Beth walked over to Jack first, pulled up his shirt and started examining his ribs.

Mac smirked.

‘Age before beauty, old man.’

Beth shook her head.

‘Nope, injuries with the larger chance of internal bleeding or organ damage first, Mac.’

‘Yup, bruised.’ She shot Mac a look. ‘ _Definitely_ not fractured.’

The blonde spread his arms out in a gesture of innocence, wincing slightly as he did so. Beth narrowed her eyes at him. ‘How was I to know? I didn’t go to medical school, and I got a C in Biology. Just wanted to be careful.’

She shook her head at him. ‘Like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth.’ Jack just smirked as the doctor turned her attention back to his ribs.

‘Keep icing it, and I’m giving you some painkillers. Over-the-counter stuff, don’t worry.’ She jabbed a finger at him. ‘But you will take them, alright?’

Jack nodded obediently, and satisfied, Beth let go of his shirt and handed him a box of tablets.

‘You’re free to go, Jack.’

The older man got up, winked at Mac, gave him a two-fingered salute, and left, ignoring the blonde’s glare.

The doctor turned her attention to the younger agent.

‘Okay, shirt and pants off. Stand up. I need to get a good look at those cuts.’

With a sigh, Mac shucked his clothing and allowed himself to be examined without complaint.

‘Okay, your lower legs and the middle of your back aren’t so bad, but you’re pretty cut up all over the rest of your back half.’ She moved a little to examine his front. ‘Front’s more or less fine. What happened to your jacket?’

It would have protected his torso from the worse of the glass. 

‘I needed it for something else.’ Mac sounded distinctly disgruntled.

Beth grabbed a pair of tweezers and some antiseptic, and pulled a little piece out of the bed to form a hole for him to rest his head in. ‘Lie down on your front. You’re going to be here a while, I’m afraid. I’ve got quite a lot of glass to pick out of you, and a lot of cuts to clean out.’ She got to work. ‘If you promise to be good, I can use butterfly bandages instead of stitches. They’re not too deep.’

Mac let out a deep breath, staring at the floor.

‘I’ll be good, I promise.’

* * *

A while later, Jack stopped by the infirmary with a change of clothes for his partner.

He was greeted by the sight of Mac, clothed only in his underpants, lying face down on the bed, snoring lightly, as Beth finished placing butterfly bandages on the last of his cuts.

The doctor walked quietly up to Jack and smiled at him, speaking softly. ‘He fell asleep. Actually, more like passed out.’

The older man nodded.

‘I’m not surprised.’

‘Should we wake him?’

Jack shook his head.

‘Probably not, he hasn’t slept in about two and a half days.’

Beth rubbed her temple with her right hand.

‘One of these days, I won’t even blink an eyelid at him pulling this sort of stunt.’ She glanced at the clothes Jack was carrying. ‘Thanks, but trying to get him into those without waking him is going to be tricky. And probably not a good idea, considering his injuries.’

The agent just deposited Mac’s clothes on a nearby chair and shrugged.

‘You could just leave him as he is.’

Beth glanced over at the sleeping agent. She picked up a sheet and placed it gently over him.

‘That’s probably for the best.’

The doctor took a seat in a chair by Mac’s bedside, and started updating her records.

Smirking to himself, Jack walked out of the infirmary, in an altogether better mood than a man with bruised ribs should be in. Sure, the kid would probably kill him when he woke up and found himself severely underdressed, in Beth’s presence to boot…but how could he blame him? Doc was a professional…and it wasn’t as if Beth didn’t appreciate the view.

* * *

A couple of days later, Jack’s thoughts were interrupted by a clinking noise as his partner deposited two paperclip objects on the table in front of him.

A shirt and a pair of pants.

* * *

_In general, being in bed, largely naked, in the presence of a beautiful and intelligent woman whom you like very much is not a bad thing._

_In fact, it’s usually quite enjoyable._

_But of course, there are exceptions to every rule._

_This was one of those times._


	14. Tie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day early because the more I stare at this story, the more dissatisfied I am with it, for some reason, and because I want to get _Best Days of Your Life_ and _Just Another Patriotic Guy_ up before New Year's.

**MARCH 2018**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

_I don’t understand traitors._

_Lowest of the low, in my opinion._

_Lying to, deceiving, people who trust you, who care about you?_

_That’s the worst of humanity, right there._

_How could someone do that?_

_Nevertheless, there are lots of traitors out there._

_That’s really disheartening._

_But I’ve still got faith in humanity. Most people are good people._

_There’s always plenty of people who will stand against a traitor, after all._

* * *

‘Intelligence suggests that there is a mole within the entourage of our ambassador to China. This individual is passing state secrets to the Chinese government. Of course, we can’t let that happen.’ Thornton paused, eyes sweeping over her team. ‘You will be infiltrating a charity gala in Hong Kong, where a suspected handover of information is occurring, to gather evidence to identify the mole. _Evidence only._ No take-downs. This is a sensitive operation.’

* * *

**SECURE LOCATION**

**US MILITARY BASE**

**OKINAWA**

* * *

 

Mac, dressed in dress shoes, dress slacks and a crisp white shirt, held up a tie in his right hand and a bowtie in the other. A suit jacket and waistcoat hung on the back of the chair beside him. He wore black-rimmed glasses and a prosthesis made by Bozer to conceal the cleft in his chin.

‘Bowtie or tie?’

Beth, who, with Bozer and Thornton, had come along to Japan for the mission, looked up from the table in front of her, where she was prepping the medical supplies she thought they might need. She considered for a moment.

‘A bowtie’s a longer piece of fabric. You’ll probably be able to do more with it; it makes a better piece of string or a rope.’

_I can confirm that is true. Last time I wore a bowtie, it was definitely useful…_

_Italy was a pretty terrible mission all up, though._

Glancing at the tie, Beth continued.

‘On the other hand, a tie would probably make a better tourniquet, and it gives you an excuse to wear a tie pin, which could be useful…’

Mac nodded thoughtfully.

‘I think I’ll go with the tie. Thanks, Beth.’

From her seat in the corner, where she was all ready for the mission, except for her bare feet (heels were uncomfortable, she was only wearing them as long as necessary), Riley grinned, putting her phone away.

Jack, who was currently being prepped by Bozer, would have grinned too, if he could have. (Bozer was currently applying a very convincing fake beard to go with the matching hairpiece he’d applied earlier.) He too wore a dress shirt, slacks and shoes, with his waistcoat and jacket hanging in front of him.

They all wore light disguises and costumes that allowed for small, quick changes, in case they got made and had to make a quick getaway.

Mac could easily remove the chin prosthesis and the glasses, Jack could pull off the beard and wig in seconds. Both could easily ditch the suit jackets and just wear the waistcoats. Riley’s hair, which had been straightened, was pinned in an elaborate updo; by pulling out a few pins, she could dramatically change her hairstyle, and the fake freckles on her cheeks could be easily removed with the special make-up remover wipes she had in her purse. The lace overlay on the upper part of her dress, while it looked firmly attached, due to a few concealed snap buttons, could actually be quickly removed.

_It is surprising how a small change in appearance can throw someone off your tail, particularly if there’s a big crowd for you to get lost in._

Bozer, the man of the moment (these disguises were his work, after all), straightened.

‘There, all done, man!’

Jack looked thoughtfully at his reflection in the mirror.

‘Any chance I could keep the wig when this is all done, Bozer? This is doing wonders for my hairline.’

All four younger team members sniggered.

* * *

Seated in a conference room, watching the screens in front of them, which showed live video from the mission, Thornton and Beth sat in a terse silence.

(Bozer really didn’t like watching the missions, so was working on his latest screenplay in another room instead. He thought Thornton hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t doing Foundation business, but she knew. She didn’t really mind; he deserved some downtime after all the hard work he’d put into this mission.)

After a few minutes, Beth reached for the bowl of paperclips they’d brought with them, and started making a paperclip chain.

In response to her boss’s slightly raised eyebrow, she shrugged.

‘Mac’s on to something. Keeping my hands busy helps.’

Thornton nodded.

‘Undercover missions are usually the hardest ones to watch. And often the hardest ones to do. Any second you could be made, but you have to stay in character…it’s the tension that gets you.’

Beth nodded slowly, glancing up at the screens again, then back at her paperclip chain.

Thornton looked away from the screens and at the doctor for a moment, then back at the screens. The older woman hadn’t missed how the doctor’s eyes lingered on Mac longer than on Riley or Jack.

‘Off the record, I’d like to remind you that we don’t have rules against fraternization, nor am I against it, provided it doesn’t disturb your work.’

Beth gave a very wry smile.

‘You too?’ Her face grew more serious. ‘I know. That’s not my concern.’

The two women sat in silence for a while, watching their team, their friends, on the screens.

Surprisingly, it was Thornton who broke the silence.

‘My career’s always been my focus. And especially since I’m a woman, that’s meant I’ve left a lot of things by the wayside.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Romance, a family…’

Beth looked up at the other woman, and spoke, voice soft.

‘Do you regret it?’

Thornton turned back to the screens, where Jack was flirting with a female diplomat in a red dress.

‘No.’

Beth was no spy, and Thornton was the best in the business, but the doctor somehow knew that the older woman was telling the truth.

Glancing back at the doctor, Thornton’s voice grew softer.

‘But you and I are very different people.’

* * *

_The mission went smoothly. Mostly._

_As smoothly as any of our missions ever go, anyway._

_We got made, but we got out, thanks to Bozer’s great disguises, and we got the evidence we needed._

_As we were in the air on the way back to Okinawa, the FBI swooped on the mole._

_The bumps actually started when we got back to Okinawa…_

* * *

Mac was practically tackled as he got off the plane.

Smiling, he hugged the little doctor who’d flung her arms around him tightly.

‘I’m so glad you’re alright.’ Her relief, and hence earlier worry, was clear in her voice.

‘You were right; the tie pin was useful.’

She laughed, and then tensed, seemingly remembering their situation, and pulled away from him, a light blush on her face. After a moment’s pause, she walked up to Jack and hugged the surprised older man, before similarly embracing Riley, who’d just untangled herself from Bozer.

Mac watched, and sighed.

_My grandfather always said that the best place to hide a tree was in a forest._

_Don’t think anyone was fooled, though._

* * *

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

The flight home took half a day, and they arrived in the middle of the afternoon. Thornton had debriefed them on the plane, so they were all free to go.

Mac followed Beth back to the infirmary, and gave her a hand replacing all the medical supplies, which thankfully hadn’t been required.

When they were done, they stood there, side by side, almost awkwardly.

‘Would you like to have dinner with me, Beth?’

Her eyes met his.

‘As dear old friends?’ A pause. Her eyes searched his face. ‘Or on a date?’

He tried to smirk at her, but failed. It came out more of a soft, hopeful smile.

‘Why not both?’

She sighed and looked away.

‘Because I’m your doctor, Mac. I can’t.’ She looked back up at him, eyes sad and sorry, but resolute. ‘Yes, our circumstances are special…so we can be friends, but nothing more.’

He looked into her eyes for a moment longer, then nodded slowly. Sadly.

‘Okay.’ He walked towards the door and paused in the doorway. ‘See you later, Beth. Have a good night.’

She smiled wanly at him.

‘See you, Mac. Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.’

* * *

Mac, Bozer and Jack sat before the fire pit, drinking beer and eating pizza. Riley wasn’t there; she’d said she had an errand to run, but would be around later.

Bozer and Jack exchanged a glance. Mac was sitting quietly, playing with a paperclip with one hand. They were worried about him. So was Riley. He’d been fine all the way back from Okinawa, but had come back from the infirmary in a mood. They were pretty sure they knew why.

Eventually, the blonde broke the silence.

‘Dating is hard.’

‘Amen to that, brother.’

Mac put down his beer bottle, and started unwinding the paperclip.

‘Everything’s so complicated.’

Each of the two other men reached out, and silently squeezed one of Mac’s shoulders.

‘Sweet temptation right in front of you. So hard to resist…I feel you, bro.’

‘Laying all your cards on the table, and losing the pot… It sucks, brother.’

Mac sighed.

‘Thanks, guys.’

‘We’re always here for you, brother.’

‘Anytime you need us, bro.’

* * *

Later that night, Mac stared at the brand-new framed photo sitting on his bedside table. Riley had stopped by and dropped it off a couple of hours ago.

It showed him and Beth, he holding a tie in one hand, a bowtie in the other, she standing before a table covered in medical supplies, discussing the relative merits of the tie and the bowtie.

Mac gave a small smile, and leaned the little wire tie he’d made against the picture frame.

* * *

 

_I’ve got wonderful, incredible friends._

_Good people. Great people._

_The kind of people who will **never, ever** betray me._

_Amazing friends._

**_Dear old friends._ **

_That’s enough._

_It has to be enough._

_It has to be._


	15. Heart (Redux)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor spoiler alert for The Martian.
> 
> This chapter makes a bit more sense if you have either read or seen The Martian. If you haven’t, I recommend that you do or at least read the Wikipedia summary or something. You can get through it and you will understand what’s happening if you haven’t, but I promise you’ll enjoy it more if you have.

 

 

* * *

**APRIL 2018**

**SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

 

_It was my job description for three years, but defusing bombs is still absolutely, utterly terrifying._

_Probably the most terrifying thing I ever face, actually._

_Even scarier than heights._

_Holding your life in your hands, and maybe hundreds or even thousands of other lives._

_One wrong move, one wrong cut…and it’s all over._

_Never do I feel my mortality more keenly…_

* * *

**0:03**

**0:02**

**0:01**

Mac cut the wire. The timer stopped counting down.

He slumped to the floor and bumped fists with Jack, then Riley.

All three agents just sat there for a moment, leaning against the walls of the truck. They shared a glance. Then they smiled. Then they laughed, the hysterical laughter of those who’ve just cheated death.

_And in that moment, it hit me._

* * *

**INFIRMARY**

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

‘I really thought I was going to die today.’

Beth looked up from the sink, where she was washing her hands after patching up Mac’s (thankfully very minor) injuries. She nodded slowly, then smiled wanly at him.

‘But you didn’t. You did it, Mac. Saved hundreds of lives.’ She paused for a moment. ‘And came home in one piece.’

He got up from his seat on the bed.

‘Beth, I don’t want to die without…’ He looked down for a moment. ‘Oh, screw it.’

And he stalked over and kissed her. Hard.

For one brief moment, she kissed him back.

Then she gently untangled herself from his embrace.

‘I’m…I’m your doctor, Mac.’

That same excuse.

They stood there for a moment, eyes searching each other’s faces, her hands on his shoulders, his cupping her face. He found his answer and groaned in frustration.

‘I love you.’ There, it was out there. He’d said it. ‘You love me.’ He knew. He knew she did, he could see it in her face, in the lines of her body as she stood there, in her eyes. ‘It should be simple.’

Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, then opened, met his briefly, and looked downwards.

‘But it’s not. I’m sorry, Mac. I wish…but it’s not right. I can’t.’

She stepped away from him, and with a glance back at him, eyes watery, left the infirmary.

Mac didn’t follow, just slumped down on a nearby chair.

_Even if I want to follow her, grab her hand, woo her and kiss her until she changes her mind…_

_I won’t._

_It wouldn’t be right._

_I wish it wasn’t so hard…_

_As Dumbledore said, we must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy._

* * *

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

Jack and Mac sat next to the fire pit, in silence. Bozer was at Riley’s; she was understandably shaken up from the events of the day. They all were.

Eventually, Mac spoke up.

‘I kissed her today. I told her, Jack. I said it. Just like I promised you I would.’ He gave a wan smile. ‘She kissed me back.’ He looked down. ‘Then she pushed me away.’ Mac glanced over at his partner. ‘Said we couldn’t, because she’s my doctor.’

Jack nodded slowly, and patted the younger man’s shoulder in comfort.

‘That’s important to her.’

Mac nodded.

‘Yeah.’

‘What did you do?’

The blonde sighed.

‘I let her go.’ He glanced over at Jack. ‘Didn’t want to, but I let her go.’

Jack nodded, patting Mac’s shoulder again.

‘You’re a good man, brother. You respect her, respect what she believes in.’

Mac bit his lip in frustration.

‘So you’re saying I did the right thing? Because right now, it certainly doesn’t feel like it!’ He ran a hand through his hair, and after a moment’s silence, turned to the older man. ‘Do you wish you’d pushed harder with Sarah, even though she had a boyfriend?’

Jack sighed and gazed into the fire.

‘Sometimes. Too often, really. Would’ve looked like an ass and all, but still….sometimes I wish I did.’ Jack glanced back at the blonde. ‘And…I knew that getting involved with my partner is a shitty idea. But hey, so is falling in love with your partner, and you can’t control that. Just happens.’ He paused for a moment. ‘And in the end, wouldn’t have made a lick of difference to what I’d have done for her. We could’ve been happily married or nothing but partners, and it wouldn’t change a thing for me.’ He shrugged. ‘In hindsight, probably should have said something. Reached for what happiness I could, or whatever that saying is.’

Mac stared into the fire for a while, considering.

‘Thanks, Jack.’

The older man nodded and reached out and patted his knee.

‘Always happy to share the wisdom, brother.’

* * *

**PHOENIX FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS**

**SOMEWHERE IN LA**

* * *

 

Mac slipped into Beth’s empty office, and glancing around, deposited a book on her desk. _The Martian._ He reached into his pocket, pulled out a note, and tucked it under a corner of the book.

_Well, I’ve always been a go-getter._

_I think my grandfather would be proud._

* * *

**MACGYVER’S RESIDENCE**

* * *

 

That night, Mac was home alone, watching the fire in silence. Bozer and Riley were at the movies.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and a moment later, Beth sat down next to him. She handed him back the book.

‘That was fast.’

She shrugged.

‘You know I read fast. Besides, I’ve read it before. It’s a great book.’

He smiled, despite himself.

‘An awesome book.’

She returned the smile.

‘Even though he needed at least another 20 square metres or so to grow enough potatoes.’

Mac snorted, and jogged her lightly with his elbow.

‘Don’t forget, that storm would never have happened on Mars anyway; the atmosphere’s too thin.’

She shook her head, and punched him lightly in the arm.

‘I prefer to accept the premise and just go from there.’ She paused, and her tone turned serious. ‘And it’s not going to work, Mac.’

He sighed, looked away, and then looked back at her.

‘Why not?’

She gazed into the fire.

‘Firstly, in your tortured analogy, while Jack is of course Martinez, and Thornton is totally Lewis, you’re definitely Watney, Riley is Johanssen and I’m Beck. I don’t swing that way, and I don’t think she does either. Besides, she’s happy with Bozer.’

‘You know, there’s an awful lot of Beck/Watney shippers out there.’

‘Angus...’

He smiled wryly.

‘If you’re calling me that, it’s got to be bad…’

When she responded, her voice was soft and melancholy.

‘We’re not astronauts in space with a mission that’s been extended by over a year due to a freak accident, Mac.’

He nodded and looked into her eyes.

'But we're a team, a team that’s like family, that works for a top-secret government agency. We have to watch each other’s backs, look out for each other, and maybe we’re not physically isolated from the world, but we’re isolated nonetheless.’ He looked away for a moment, then back at her. ‘If…if you really want me to, I’ll stop. I promise. We’ll be friends and nothing more.’ He was silent for a moment, and then he reached for her hand, taking it in his. She didn’t pull it away. ‘For what it’s worth…I think we can do this. Be together, and not disrupt our work. I know I’m asking you to break your code…’ He curled two fingers from his other hand under her chin. ‘But the feelings are already there, and we’ve managed so far. Even if we ignore them…’

She sighed and nodded.

‘They’re still there. We’re still affected by them…still have to deal with the problems they raise. Without the benefits.’ She squeezed his hand and gave him a wan smile. ‘You’re not making this easy for me.’

‘I’m sorry.’

She sighed.

‘Give me some time to think, to process.’

He swallowed and nodded.

‘Okay.’

She squeezed his hand again, and got up and left, leaving him sitting there, contemplating the fire.

Hope sparked in his chest.

* * *

_The funny thing about love is that while connections or dramatic confessions can be induced by life-threatening scenarios, they just as easily come about in ordinary, daily life._

_Three completely ordinary, essentially injury-free missions later, on a rare day off at home, I was sitting outside, enjoying the spring morning._

_I got a very welcome surprise._

* * *

‘It’s not as good as yours, but it was the best I could do.’

Beth handed him a slightly-wonky paperclip heart and sat down beside him, smiling.

A slow smile spread across his face, and he leaned over, tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear, and kissed her. She kissed him back and scooted closer. Eventually, they broke for air, and she rested her head on his shoulder, smiling.

‘Come get brunch with me, Mac? As dear old friends…and something more?’

Grinning, he leaned in and kissed her again.

‘Bozer’s at Riley’s. I was thinking more ordering pizza and staying in, but…’

She laughed and shook her head, then grinned up at him.

‘Let’s compromise. Breakfast foods at home.’

‘I _do_ make great pancakes.’

‘You made great pancakes with a modified toaster. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do with an actual stove and frypan.’

‘I’ll blow your mind.’

‘I’m sure you will.’

* * *

_For the record, I’m still a terrible patient._

_But I do have an excellent doctor._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end of _Paperclip Charms_! I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for all of your reviews and support.
> 
> Since it’s NYE here in Australia- Happy New Year, everyone! Hope your 2017 is amazing!
> 
> Starting from tomorrow, _Best Days of Your Life_ and _Just Another Patriotic Guy_ will post on an alternating basis, one chapter per day. Both are very AU. (Unlike pretty much every other author in this fandom, I seem to be utterly incapable of writing strictly canon.) Here are the summaries as a teaser:
> 
>  _Just Another Patriotic Guy_ : For 6 years, Angus MacGyver, EOD tech, has been chasing a bombmaker, The Ghost, through Afghanistan, with CIA Agent Jack Dalton and their team. His life is irrevocably changed when an MSF hospital is targeted. Luckily, his friends are there to catch him when he falls and help him get back on his feet again.
> 
>  _Best Days of Your Life_ : College!AU. Angus MacGyver’s got a lot on his plate: classes at MIT, his part-time job at Dalton Auto Repair, girls (dating is weird), and he’s somehow caught the attention of a government think-tank. Not to mention, his roommate/best friend is writing a TV script featuring him in the titular role…


	16. Valentine's Day Special

**2010**

* * *

Mac’s phone rang.

He quickly put down the spanner he was holding, and wiped his greasy hands on his jeans. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and glanced briefly at the caller ID (ignoring the funny little feeling that gave him) and answered.

‘Hey, Beth.’

‘Hi, Mac!’ She paused for a moment. ‘Umm…you know how today at lunch you mentioned that you were going to work on your solar car tonight?’ He had, indeed, mentioned that when they’d had lunch with some of their friends earlier that day, and he was, indeed, in the workshop space that he and his engineering buddies (none of whom were currently present) used to work on their projects for various MIT competitions. ‘Well, if I’m not going to be in the way or disturbing you or anything like that…could I please come and study in your workshop? My roommate’s got, um… _plans_ , and a library’s not really an option, since it’s Sunday night and all, and I’m kicked out until midnight…’

He gave a wry little smile at the mention of _plans._ It was Valentine’s Day, and quite a few of the students had plans that involved kicking roommates out of their dorms. (His own roommate had kicked him out until midnight too, which was why he was at the workshop in the first place.)

That was also why none of his engineering buddies were here helping him with their solar car. They all had plans.

Realizing that Beth was still on the phone, waiting for a response, he replied, kicking himself internally for his awkwardness.

‘Umm, yeah, of course you can come on down! I’d like your company, you’re…’

He cut himself off before he said something he’d probably regret later.

‘Thanks, Mac! I’ll be there in about half an hour. See you soon!’

‘See you, Beth.’

_And then, it hit me._

Mac’s ears went very pink as he realized that he was going to be spending Valentine’s Day evening in the workshop, with Beth, all alone. He suddenly felt very conscious of his grease-stained jeans and equally-greasy MIT T-shirt.

_Look, there’s a reason why my engineering buddies keep playing Kiss the Girl to me._

_And she’s that reason._

His ears felt like they were on fire.

_Oh, get it together, MacGyver._

_It’s not as if she asked me out for Valentine’s Day. Nothing significant about this at all._

_She just needs someplace to go, and it’s not surprising that she’d prefer to be with a friend than on her own._

_Besides, the libraries aren’t open, and unless she wants to sit in a fast-food joint until midnight, which is probably not the best idea, her being a seventeen-year-old 5’2’’ female and all, she doesn’t have all that many options…_

_We’re friends._

_Just friends._

_Good friends, but just friends._

He sighed, pocketing his phone and picking up his spanner again, getting back to business on the solar car, muttering to himself.

‘She’s brilliant and beautiful, and sweet and fierce all at once, Mac. Why would she be interested in you?’

_Even if I’m not as much of a skinny toothpick as I used to be._

_Even if she thinks that the weird things I get excited by are actually pretty awesome, too._

_Even if she’s probably the only person, outside of my engineering buddies and the people on my floor and maybe Bozer, who thinks that my pancake-making toaster is actually really cool. And not just because it makes great pancakes, even if I say so myself._

He shook his head and scolded himself.

_That’s all false hope, and you know it._

It really was nothing special. They’d spent last Valentine’s Day together too, anyway. (They’d arranged to meet up to go through some really interesting concepts that their chemistry lecturer had raised in class – which weren’t directly examinable, but too interesting to not think about and really try and deeply, truly understand – and hadn’t taken note of the date, until it was pointed out to them. Mac had had to threaten, repeatedly, to turn all of his engineering buddies’ clothes bright purple to get them to leave him alone about that.) Clearly, nothing had happened.

_We’re just good friends, hanging out. Just forget the date._

* * *

‘I’ve got a delivery for an Angus MacGyver?’

He looked up, laughed, and grinned at Beth, who was standing in the doorway, with a backpack on her back, carrying a large pizza box.

‘I don’t remember ordering a pizza.’

His stomach chose that moment to grumble very loudly, reminding him that he was a teenage male who hadn’t eaten since lunch. (He had a tendency to forget about things like food when he was caught up in a project.)

Beth chuckled, and walked over to him, sat cross-legged on the floor, set down the pizza box and opened it. She jabbed a finger at him and narrowed her eyes.

‘Eat.’ She glanced at his greasy hands for a moment. ‘Actually, wait.’ She looked around and then reached into her backpack and pulled out a tube of hand lotion. (She took a lot of biology and chemistry classes and was always washing her hands, so carried it around with her to stop her hands from cracking. The fact that he’d noticed this, and, in a moment of very poor judgement very late one night, happened to mention it to his engineering buddies, was a constant source of teasing.) She handed him the tube.

‘You know, I could just use some dish soap…’

She raised an eyebrow at him, glancing around the workshop again.

‘ _What_ dish soap? Unless you’ve decided to conceal it under a cloaking device, which I’d love to see, by the way, I don’t think there’s any here.’

_Hmm…she’s right, actually. We must be out._

_Look, we’re all teenage guys, except Tom, who just turned twenty. Do you really think that we’ll remember to always restock the dish soap?_

With a laugh and a nod, he squeezed a large amount of lotion onto his hands (making a mental note to buy her some more, without anyone finding out, since he’d ended up using about half the tube), rubbed his hands together, and towelled off the lotion-and-grease mixture onto a spare rag. He held up his hands.

‘Do I pass inspection?’

She examined his hands for a moment, a rather wry smile on her face, and then nodded.

‘All clear, Mac.’

He chuckled, and grabbed a slice of pizza and took a large bite. Meanwhile, Beth reached into her backpack and pulled out two bottles of water and a couple of oranges. Mac watched her with a smile (or, as much of a smile as he could manage, since his mouth was full).

_Everyone’s always calling me a Boy Scout, but to be honest, she’d probably have made a better one. Except for the not being a boy bit, of course._

Swallowing his mouthful of pizza, Mac reached for one of the water bottles.

‘Thanks, Beth.’

She swallowed her own bite of pizza, and grinned up at him.

‘This is what friends are for, right?’

She must have found the pepperoni on the pizza to be rather spicy (he thought it was mild, but that was a relatively subjective thing), because her cheeks were a little pink as she spoke.

Mac just grinned back as best as he could around his mouthful of pizza.

**_Friends._ ** _See, she’s not interested._

* * *

A couple of hours later, Beth closed her laptop, and walked over to him, crouching down and examining the solar car with interest. (She wasn’t much of an engineer, but did appreciate fine engineering.)

Mac gave a little smirk as he tinkered with the engine as she watched.

_Okay, okay, maybe I’m showing off a little…_

_Look, even if I know she’s not interested, this is what I’m good at. Can you blame me for wanting to show off a little for the girl I’ve got a crush on?_

_Yes, I admitted it._

_There’s probably not much point in denying it to myself, after all._

‘More interesting than studying, right? What _were_ you studying?’

Beth grinned and punched him lightly in the arm. (She was definitely the more studious of the two of them. Mac tended to prefer his projects or his recreational, albeit science-related, reading and YouTube video-watching to doing homework or studying for tests and exams.)

‘Drug metabolism pathways, and how they relate to idiosyncratic drug reactions. Which, I’ll have you know, are very interesting.’

He considered for a moment.

_That actually does sound quite interesting._

‘But, as always, your projects kind of take the cake when it comes to interesting.’

He smirked.

‘Theory’s great and all, definitely extremely useful and worth knowing, but nothing beats hands-on and making something for yourself.’

She nodded, and he pointed over at the toolbox resting next to a pile of spare parts.

‘Could you grab me a #3 Phillips head screwdriver and a length of metal pipe?’

‘Don’t you need a particular size or length of metal pipe?’

She handed him the screwdriver.

‘No, not for this. I’m going to…’

* * *

Late that night (or, technically, very early the next morning; it was a little after midnight), Mac walked back to his dorm, having walked with Beth back to hers.

He smiled to himself as a little spanner, made out of a paperclip, took shape in his hands.

_My grandfather always said to look for the silver lining in the clouds._

_I never understood why silver, given that there’s a lot of other substances that are more precious._

_In that vein, I think I found a platinum lining today._

* * *

**2018**

* * *

Beth sighed as she ate her bowl of vegetable and barley stew in her pyjamas (flannel pants and a T-shirt emblazoned with _The name’s bond, ionic bond, taken, not shared_ ) at her little dining table in her apartment. All alone.

On Valentine’s Day.

_Ugh. I’m the walking embodiment of a bad rom-com trope._

She cast her mind back to the day she’d had. Mac, Jack and Riley had been out on a thankfully short and trouble-and-injury-free mission. They’d left the afternoon before, and been back in time for Bozer and Riley’s Valentine’s Day plans to not be disrupted.

As the team was on-route back to the Phoenix, Bozer had stopped by the infirmary to tease her about the whole Mac-needing-glass-picked-out-of-his-entire-dorsal-side-and-hence-being-mostly-naked thing _again._ (He and Riley just would not let up, and she suspected that Jack was doing something similar to Mac, because the blonde had been a little annoyed at his partner ever since.)

Beth shook her head with a wry little smile, eating a little more of her stew as she did so. (Bozer and Riley were barking up the wrong tree; any and all nudity in a medical context was processed in the doctor portion of her brain, using her doctor headspace. In that headspace, everyone, Mac included, was a patient. Things like attractiveness or the feelings she had towards her patients, positive or negative – she’d treated suspected terrorists back in Detroit, after what she’d later learned was one of the team’s missions, and they’d just been patients to her, had to be just patients to her – did not weigh into it.)

To be fair, she did understand what they were _trying_ to do, Bozer and Riley, and, she suspected, Jack, from Mac’s end.

_There’s…there’s something between us._

_And it’s not just history, not anymore. Being in denial in my own head’s just pointless._

It had been history, it really had been.

She’d been over him, really, truly, let him go after he stopped replying to her emails, all those years ago, when he’d been in Afghanistan and she’d been at Northwestern in medical school.

It’d taken time, but she really had.

She’d moved on, he’d moved on, and maybe those relationships that followed hadn’t worked out (she’d thought that the guy who thought that the Periodic Table was wrong was bad, but evil ex-girlfriend seriously took the cake), but it hadn’t been because of their history.

But then he fell back into her life (or maybe more accurately, she fell back into his), and at first, it was history.

Until it wasn’t.

_Maybe history really does repeat itself._

_God knows, we’re probably even more obvious now than we were in college._

_Yes, I’m admitting to myself that we’re both very much aware that there’s more than history between us now._

_We’ve made progress!_

_The second time around, we’re now aware and quite certain, at the time, not in hindsight and with distance, that whatever feelings we have are requited!_

_Progress!_

_Okay, okay, Beth, stop making bad jokes in your own head._

_Oh, great, I really am talking to myself. In my head._

She reached out and picked up her phone, toying with it in her hand for a moment.

It would be so easy, to reach out, to bring up his number and text or call or…

_No. Don’t you dare, Bethany Helena Taylor. Don’t you dare._

_You can’t._

_It’s not right._

_You can want to, but you **can’t.**_

_It wouldn’t be right._

She sat there, stew forgotten, mulling over her thoughts, arguing, in essence, with herself.

_You made that promise to yourself, swore to uphold your code, based on a premise that’s now false. Back then, you thought you’d just be a normal, everyday ER doctor. Now, you’re a doctor for a highly-clandestine, top-secret government agency. Far beyond anything that you’d ever have imagined when you swore-_

_-and that doesn’t mean that breaking my code, breaking my oath to myself, is the right thing to do now._

_You’ve already compromised. Your patients? They’re your friends, your closest friends, and you know you love them dearly now._

(That was so, so true; she had more-or-less no-one else in her life now. Mac had hit the nail on the head, when he’d spoken about the loneliness, she’d left everything and everyone behind when she’d joined the Phoenix. Her beloved parents, whom she’d kept almost nothing from, not even the feelings she’d held for Mac in college that she’d believed unrequited or the anger and the sadness and the _worry_ and the _pain_ she’d felt when he’d stopped writing, just after she’d realized that maybe, just maybe, he might return her feelings, genuinely believed she worked for a think-tank.)

_Why draw the line at friends? Romantic love or platonic love, they’re both powerful, powerful forces. You know that, you see the evidence every single day-_

_-because, because…it’s a compromise. The best I can live with. The best that I can cope with. It’s an arbitrary line in the sand, maybe, but it’s not as if it’s an unusual one. There’s precedent-_

_You might well be in love with him. Admit that, at least to yourself, deep down in your heart-of-hearts. You’re already emotionally compromised, whether you try and keep yourself at arm’s length or not. Why not just ask him out for brunch, not just as dear old friends, why not just say yes when he asks one day?_

(He would ask, one day, he would push, just a little. She knew that. Maybe part of her wanted him to. The situation that they were currently in, nebulous and full of things unsaid? It was untenable. Something had to happen. With his nature, with a past like his, love and loved ones were so, so important to Mac. And he had a job in which he faced near-death at least once a month, and that was definitely going to have an effect on a person’s psyche.)

Beth sighed, pushing away her bowl of stew and putting her head in her hands.

She knew, deep down, that her resolve was crumbling. She’d tried, at first, to keep a professional, albeit friendly, distance from her patients.

That had not lasted.

(Joking and teasing with her patients, ones that she treated regularly, ones that she’d come to realize used banter and humour as a medium to show affection, and as a way to cope with their lives and the pressure and the darkness, not unlike a lot of medical personnel, that was okay. But she really shouldn’t have done things like held him as he’d cried, when Ben’s mother had been killed…but what could she have done, in the face of so much grief, but to offer comfort? _I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug…)_

She didn’t know if she could do it; keep trying to hold up these walls.

It really, really wasn’t her nature.

(Her inability to do so, to not get attached, had been part of the reason why she’d chosen ER over, say, oncology or paediatrics or becoming a hospitalist. In the ER, patients moved through quickly. You triaged, you diagnosed, you did some treatment, and then you handed them off to someone else. Hopefully, you never, ever saw them again. Short-term, it was easy to maintain a doctor mind-set, to just look at them as patients, but long-term was a whole different story. The more you saw of them, the more you got to know them and learned their story, the easier it was to get attached.)

She wasn’t Thornton, wasn’t, _couldn’t be_ , like her. (The older woman had this ability, the ability to keep up her walls, keep some distance, even when she wasn’t wearing her boss hat. Even when she clearly did care for her team. But the moment Beth left her doctor headspace, her walls just crumbled.)

She didn’t want to keep these walls up.

She wanted to just let it all fall away, to give in.

But she couldn’t.

It wouldn’t be right, despite all the arguments to the contrary that her brain seemed to be able to generate.

_They’re pretty valid arguments, you know._

_And if Jack hadn’t burst in just at that moment-_

Beth cut off that thought before it could gain any traction. She was never, ever drinking vodka again.

She sighed, and stared at her bowl of stew.

‘You know, when I partnered up with a guy in my chem lab group because he looked about my age, I really didn’t think it’d get me into this mess.’ She gave a snort of laughter. ‘Though, if I’d predicted _that_ , I probably picked the wrong career. I should have become a fortune teller.’

Unsurprisingly, the stew didn’t say anything back.

With another sigh, Beth picked up the bowl of stew, put the leftovers in a box, and put the box in the fridge and the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher.

She reached into the freezer and pulled out a carton of Ben and Jerry’s, then grabbed a spoon from her cutlery drawer and made her way over to the couch.

Hopefully there was a superhero movie on Netflix. (One that was _definitely_ not one of the _X-Men_ reboots.)

_Eating ice-cream straight out of the carton while watching TV in your pyjamas, all alone, on Valentine’s Day._

_You’ve become exactly what you hate, Beth. A rom-com stereotype._

_Ugh._

After about a third of the pint of ice-cream, her eyes fell on the little bowl she kept on her coffee table, full of little paperclip shapes that Mac had given her. With a little smile, she reached out and picked up the most recent one, a pair of tweezers that he’d given her after he’d woken up after the whole picking-glass-out-of-and-patching-up-the-cuts-in-his-entire-dorsal-side incident, as a thank-you of sorts.

_You know, that’s really not helping the rom-com trope thing._

Beth sighed.

_Oh, shut up._

_You know, they say talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity…_

‘Well, everyone’s always said I’m crazy. That’s not news.’

* * *

**2019**

* * *

‘With the light pollution, we’re not going to see much, are we?’

Mac turned to his girlfriend as best as he could (It was a little tricky, since she was lying with her head on his chest. They were both lying on a blanket on the deck, waiting for the sun to finish setting, so that they could look at the stars.). He smirked.

‘Since when did that stop us?’ He handed her a pair of rather odd-looking glasses with coloured filters for lenses that he’d prepared earlier, and then picked up his own pair. ‘And these should help.’

She grinned at him, looking simultaneously very strange and also very adorable in the glasses, in his opinion.

‘This really does bring back memories.’

They’d spent most of the summer between their first and second years at MIT on campus (Mac hadn’t actually left at all, while Beth had gone home for a couple of weeks), taking summer courses (how else would they have been able to graduate two years early?). Some nights, they’d met up for dinner and ended up watching the sky and chatting on a rooftop or on the lawn.

‘My engineering buddies would not let up when semester started and they found out we hadn’t gotten together.’

Beth laughed.

‘My roommate wouldn’t either.’

They lay there in silence for a moment, both smiling, lost in memories, before Mac spoke up.

‘We have a combined IQ of over 300, and yet we didn’t realize in time that our supposedly one-sided feelings were very much requited.’ He paused for a moment. ‘No wonder they kept calling me an idiot genius.’

He heard, rather than saw, her wry smile, in the tone of her voice when she responded.

‘I think it was more the fact that, combined, we’ve got enough stubbornness for at least one pack of mules, and at least back then, we had the confidence in this area of about one person, put together.’

‘How many mules in a pack of mules?’

He felt her shrug, and she gave a snort of laughter.

‘How long is a piece of string?’

He, too, laughed, and pulled her a little closer, and kissed her forehead.

‘If we’d worked it out, maybe I wouldn’t have had the whole evil ex-girlfriend problem.’

His tone was light, joking. He’d come a long way, and making light of the darkness helped him, like it did their whole little family, really.

She pretended to consider for a moment, a teasing little grin on her face.

‘Eh, you’re probably right. I would be a terrible supervillain.’

Unfortunately, at that moment, Mac’s phone rang. They shared a significant look (it really could be only one person, and only because of one thing), and sat up, Mac pulling out his phone as he did so, and putting their boss on speaker.

‘Mac, Doc, sorry to interrupt your Valentine’s Day, but we’ve got a mission. Mac, you’re going to need your go-bag, Doc, you’re staying on-site.’

As Thornton was speaking, Mac was already putting out the fire pit, while Beth folded up the blanket and packed up the bottle of wine (thankfully unopened – alcohol in the bloodstream on a mission was _bad_ ; they really hadn’t needed that unfortunate experience with Timothy Meyers and vodka in Boston to know _that_ ) and wineglasses.

‘We’ll be there in thirty minutes, twenty if the traffic’s not too bad, boss.’

* * *

‘I wonder what bad guys do for Valentine’s Day.’

Mac, sitting in the driver’s seat, gave a snort of laughter as they stopped at the traffic lights.

‘Based off the fact that we’ve got to go stop some bad guys on Valentine’s Day? Keep florists and chocolatiers in business.’

 Beth laughed, too.

‘Honey, I’m home, I’m sorry I missed Valentine’s Day, I was busy threatening global peace and security!’

* * *

Two days later, after returning from their Valentine’s Day mission, thankfully unharmed, Mac handed his girlfriend four mules, made out of paperclips.

She took them, laughed, and then looked up at him, grinning.

‘Four? Is that the answer?’

He gave a small smirk.

‘Well, I ran out of paperclips, so I guess it has to be.’

Beth nodded, her grin growing a little wider, looked at the mules once more, and then laughed again.

‘Four mules to a pack. Makes sense to me.’

Staring at the couple, Jack leaned over to Bozer and Riley.

‘Do you think they’ve finally lost it?’

Riley and Bozer both shook their heads with a smile. Riley rolled her eyes.

‘How can you _not_ be used to the fact that _nothing’s_ normal when Mac’s involved yet, old man?’

‘And seriously, man, I could tell you _so_ many stories of their college days. I mean, most of them are second-hand and all, but really…’

* * *

**2022**

* * *

Beth shone a light into Mac’s eyes, carefully examining the reaction of his pupils.

‘Name?’

‘Angus MacGyver.’

‘Age?’

‘Twenty-nine.’

‘Today’s date?’

‘February 14th, 2022. Otherwise known as Valentine’s Day.’

‘What’s the definition of an adiabatic process?’

‘One that occurs without heat transfer, that is, for which q is equal to zero.’

‘Planck’s constant, to five decimal places?’

‘6.62607 times 10 to the power of negative 34 Joule-seconds.’

‘The reaction between acetone and sodium borohydride produces…’

‘Propan-2-ol.’

She nodded.

‘Well, you’re not concussed.’

He sighed.

‘Can we go home, then?’

She just shot him a look, narrowing her eyes.

‘ _No_ , Mac. You haven’t got a concussion, but you have a bruised kidney and a gash down your leg that needed stitches.’

‘But I have an absolutely amazing and very talented, clever and beautiful doctor fiancée who will take very good care of me-‘

‘Flattery, _as usual,_ will get you nowhere, Mac.’ She paused for a moment, and then gave a rather wry smile. ‘You know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.’

He snorted.

‘Einstein? Really?’ She just smiled, shaking her head affectionately, and handed him the little bowl of paperclips that she kept on her desk. With an answering smile, he took the bowl and picked up a paperclip, shaping it into a sine curve. Beth just watched, her smile widening, before turning her attention to updating his medical records. He waited until she was done before he spoke again. ‘You know, this really wasn’t how I planned on spending Valentine’s Day with you.’

She shook her head wryly.

‘If you had even predicted this, though I guess this _does_ happen more frequently than we’d both like,  I’d be testing you for ESP or something like that, and I’d probably take up wearing a colander on my head so that you wouldn’t read my mind.’ She smirked. ‘Besides, you are terrible at plans.’

He picked up a third paperclip (an acetone molecule had already joined the wave), and started shaping it into a colander.

‘It would be very useful to be able to read your mind.’ He pointed at the chain that showed above the neckline of her shirt (she wore her ring on it while at work) with a smile. ‘Besides, at least one of my plans worked out.’

Her smile widened, growing softer, and she nodded, reaching up to toy with the chain.

‘Fair enough.’ She paused for a moment, pursuing her lips in thought, and then giving him a teasing look. ‘You know, I’m still not entirely convinced that you didn’t make up part of that grand-romantic-gesture MacGyverism, as Bozer called it, on the fly…’

* * *

**2024**

* * *

Beth looked over his latest projects, which filled what had once been his bedroom and was now going to be their son’s room (they’d moved into Bozer’s old room- the master- when his best friend had moved out with Riley), with a practiced eye.

‘Most expectant fathers go overboard _buying_ baby stuff. I should not be surprised that you go overboard _making_ baby stuff…’ She looked up at him with a fond smile, then back over at his projects. ‘Is that a sat-phone baby monitor? And a solar-powered automatic bottle warmer? And a self-rocking cradle?’

He nodded.

‘It rocks at twelve different frequencies and it plays lullabies. It’s also earthquake-proof and bullet-proof.’

_The self-rocking and lullaby-playing functions should be very useful._

_As for the earthquake-proof feature?_

_We **do** live in LA._

_And the bullet-proof feature?_

_Well, I hope that **never, ever** has to be used, and I will do **everything** in my power to make sure it isn’t, but…be prepared and all. _

She shot him a very impressed look, smiling and rubbing a hand on the curve of her belly absent-mindedly.

‘Of course it does, and of course it is.’

* * *

Later, they both sat on the couch, his hand resting on her bump (he liked feeling the baby kick, and their son obliged and did it fairly frequently, which, like his apparent fondness for using her bladder as a workbench, which she insisted was inherited from him, seemingly annoyed Beth to no end, though he was pretty sure that there was a healthy dose of fondness in that annoyance, at least when it wasn’t the middle of the night).

He grinned like a child when he felt another kick, and his wife shook her head at him with that same fond smile.

He just bent his head to kiss her in response.

‘Happy Valentine’s Day.’

She grinned up at him, eyes soft and affectionate.

‘Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too.’

They sat there in comfortable silence for a while, enjoying the moment of peace. (They were reliably informed by Diane Davis, the internet and all forms of media, that they wouldn’t get much peace soon.) Eventually, Mac broke the silence.

‘Seventeen-year-old me would really not have believed that this was a possible future.’

_I probably sound a little bit like a sad creep; in my defence, love does all sorts of funny things to people, but I really wouldn’t have even dared to dream that this was possible until a few years’ ago._

_Not even when I was eighteen in Afghanistan, before The Ghost, and there wasn’t much light as it was, and her emails and Bozer’s and Penny’s, and hopes and dreams, the thought that maybe, just maybe, when I got home and worked up the courage to say something, maybe next deployment, I’d have a girl to come home to, made up an awful lot of that light. Not even then, when sometimes, wild dreams, crazy hopes, white-picket-fence wishes, were as important as your body armour or your brothers-in-arms or your rations._

She nodded.

‘Even if you built a time machine and popped in to visit seventeen-year-old me, with photographic evidence, I would not have believed you. In fact, I’d probably have called the police on you, and then the time-space continuum would have been absolutely blown to smithereens.’

He laughed, and reached out, picking up a couple of paperclips from the bowl on the coffee table (it’d have to go once their son arrived; they were a choking hazard).

Beth just watched, a soft smile on her face, as a stork holding a swaddled baby in a sling suspended from its beak took shape.

She patted her belly, and then leaned back and looked up at him, a look of rather horrified realization growing on her face as she did so.

‘I didn’t buy that…I’m guessing you didn’t either…’

That same look of horrified realization spread across his face, too.

‘No, even with my overly-wild imagination, it never made sense to me…’

They both stared at her bump, then at one another.

‘He’s never going to buy it.’

Beth just shook her head.

‘You’ll just have to come up with something better, then.’

‘Why me?’

She poked him in the sternum.

‘You somehow managed to keep Bozer from discovering your secret life for _years._ I’m sure they taught you this sort of stuff in spy school!’ She then looked down at her belly. ‘You are going to be trouble, aren’t you? You’d better not be a terrible patient like your dad, too!’

‘I _have_ gotten better…’

She just shot him a look.

_Well, better is a relative term._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After writing 2010, I really, really wanted to slap both Mac and Beth for being so, so stupid and blind – it would have saved them a hell of a lot of angst and trouble (and in this villain!Nikki AU, might have stopped Mac getting shot and betrayed and heartbroken), if they hadn’t managed to convince themselves that their feelings couldn’t possibly be requited! (But no, it took being miles and miles apart, growing up a little, building some confidence and Mac joining the Army…) I guess in their own words, they were young and silly. In other news, I have become too attached to these two…
> 
> I know I said I wasn’t going to write a sequel, and although I have written two mini-sequels which together are about half as long as the original fic (the above, and The Grey Goose Chase in _Two Paperclips and a Stick of Gum_ ), I am quite sure that this time, this is really, really the end. (Uni starts in less than two weeks!)
> 
> However, if you’re a fan of her, Beth Taylor does appear in just about all of my other _MacGyver_ fics in some capacity. Her biggest roles (and the ones in which she has a role most similar to in _Paperclip Charms_ ) are in the _Just Another Patriotic Guy/The Roommate Chronicles_ ‘verse and Trigonometry in _Two Paperclips and a Stick of Gum_ , as well as my upcoming story, _There’s Something About MacGyver_ , which is my other Valentine’s Day fic. It is multi-chap and will start posting tomorrow, probably a chapter a day, maybe every other day.
> 
> Here’s the summary as a teaser: Bozer meets his ‘future girlfriend’ in a coffee shop. At the same time, Jack struggles with the fact that Sarah, the one that got away, is getting married, and has no idea that Coffee Shop Girl is the daughter of his ex-girlfriend Diane. Meanwhile, Mac’s projects keep overflowing into his beautiful new neighbour’s yard.


End file.
